An Introduction

Let me introduce myself.  (I'm pretending that there are actually people reading my blog).  I'm a 50+ female who married her high school sweetheart at the age of 30 after going our separate ways after college (but still keeping in touch by a quick phone call every 6 months).  I recently found the card he bought me for our first anniversary.  He wrote in it "We were meant to be together.  Forever."
Apparently, I was the only one who meant the marriage vows.

To say that I had my wind knocked out of me when he said he didn't love me anymore is an under-statement.  We had booked a cruise to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on March 30, and he told me this May 7.  He moved out May 23.  In June, I looked at the cell phone records and found texts and phone calls to the same phone number from 6:00AM - 10:30PM, beginning April 8.  The number belonged to a married woman he worked with.  My belief is that when her son graduates from high school in June, she will file for divorce.  I have since talked to co-workers of hers, and she talked about how she hates her husband, but felt trapped in the marriage since she couldn't afford to live on her salary.  Both my former husband and this woman are third year teachers (after having other careers), beginning their teaching careers at the same school during the same year.
Time will tell about what I think they have planned.
This is not the life I had planned for myself, but it is the life that God has planned for me, so I am putting my trust in Him, or rather I am trying to put my trust in Him.  It's still hard, coming home to a quiet house and not being able to share my day with the person I thought would always be there.   The person I thought was my absolute best friend.  The person with whom I shared every secret of my life.   It has been a difficult 18 months, trying to adjust to this life.  Also, my self-esteem has taken a blow.  There are good days, but there are also a few bad days.
I don't come home to an empty house, though.  Just to one where the only response I get to my comments is barking.

This is my old girl, the alpha, who lets all others know that they are not to mess with her.  And, they give her a wide berth.  She is around 11 years old and was adopted from the local dog pound when she was a scared little puppy.

Here is the second dog I added to the mix.  She would make a pretty good frisbee dog as she runs and jumps all over the yard.  She is around 6 years old and was given to me by people who found her wandering the streets when she was around 8 weeks old.  No one responded to the flyers they put up in the neighborhood, and since the people already had two dogs, they did not want a third one.  So, I rescued her.

The last dog was added on Christmas, 2010.  She lived with my youngest son in an efficiency apartment at his university.  She had been abused at one point in her life and didn't warm up to new people easily.  She was actually the dog of a former roommate of my son's, and when he moved into her house, he had to stay on his side of the house for days and days before this dog would accept him.  All she did was bark and growl at him.  When his roommate graduated and left for California in April 2010, she left the dog, too.  So, being the animal lover that my son is, he kept her.  But he knew it was unfair to this dog, as she stayed inside his apartment all of the time.  He was able to take her outside on a leash to do her business, but that's all she saw of the outside.  I didn't even know he had this dog until November, when I went to visit him.  She barked and growled at me for hours before she warmed up to me.  My son brought her home for Thanksgiving to see how she would react to our other dogs, and she did fine after a brief introduction.  We had lots of people over the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (we do a bonfire that night), and she didn't growl at anyone.

So, at Christmas, my son asked if she could stay here, since she loved running around the backyard so much with the younger dog.  Now, I have three dogs, and my yard, which was a mess before, is now a disaster area as she digs.

She's a funny looking dog.  She has a golden retriever's head, but the body of a basset hound (or corgi).

So, that's who gets to listen to my day when I come home.  They are terrific listeners, but they can't add to the conversation much.