Lady

We haven't seen her in weeks.  Haven't spent actual time with her in... probably two months.  Oh, there's been the occasional emergency babysitting, and we've been to the same parties.  But the three of us haven't been together since middle of July.  It was easy to say it was over; harder to make it feel real.  Even harder to believe it.

Better this way, I know.  She no longer fit the dating criteria, so it was time to be done.  I really hope we can still be friends, but I don't really know what she thinks of it all.  She's a hard person to read - someone who just flits in and out of your life in a whirl of charm and energy.  She's barely online to chat anymore.

Even in friendships, Alpha and I like to have close friends.  Two, or three people that you see regularly.  Maybe you have dinner once a week, or maybe you chat every morning online as you get ready for the day.  Maybe it's just facebook most of the time, but you still keep in touch.  The conversation is more than "hello" and "how are you" and then fading offline.  I hate that the internet seems to have made friendships a much more fleeting thing.

I miss her.

But the world is looking up for Alpha and I, regardless.  He recently got a job - a temp-to-hire, so in a few months, not only will he have steady income, but he'll get benefits as well.  A real, honest to goodness, 8-5 steady job that should last indefinitely.  A collective sigh of relief has swept over our house.  For the first time in I can't remember, we went out to dinner this weekend, and had continuous conversation.  All we did was go out for dinner - burgers and milkshakes, no less - and talked.

How refreshing it is to have a conversation with your spouse.

I've begun looking at buying things in earnest now, instead of only wishing.  Alpha spent one lunch break figuring a budget, and how long it would take to pay off the collected debts of the past year.  (Answer: a minimum of two years.  Which means, maybe I'll get a house for my 30th birthday.)  He says that we can begin to buy what we've been needing - getting the cars' oil changed, buying E a winter coat, renewing my gym membership, etc - but to try not to buy everything all at once.  We still have a budget.  But the great part is, our expenses no longer exceed our income.  Which, as you can imagine, is a huge weight off our shoulders.