Finally spoke to Gemini yesterday, and he is furious. He's furious because, referring to the friend he's been driving around and staying with two or three nights a week, I said, "It feels like you would rather be with her than with me." He "can't deal with someone who would say that." Apparently those words remind him of something an ex-girlfriend once said to him. So he's going to "cool off" until Tuesday, and then I guess we'll talk again.

To me, his anger seems way out of proportion. I thought I was just doing what I'm supposed to do--being honest, sharing myself with him so we could have important conversations and feel closer to each other. Now he is punishing me not only for voicing my hurt feelings and insecurities, but also for what another woman once said to him.

After that conversation I took a two-hour nap with J, and last night one of J's classmates and her mother (a former social worker) came over for dinner. I was glad I hadn't planned on anything elaborate, because yesterday was not the day for me to get ambitious in the kitchen. (I hadn't eaten or drunk anything--not even coffee--all day. When I set out the appetizers--spicy green olives and phyllo spinach triangles--I realized I was hungry enough to eat my own arm.) I served them chicken (baked in garlic, oregano, basil, olive oil, and red wine), rice pilaf, and carrots. The other mother and I downed a bottle of merlot, and she offered me her professional insight. We also talked about school options, and other parenting challenges. But by nine o'clock we were yawning over our cookies, enjoying our chat but way too tired to continue. Before leaving, she asked me, "Now, are you going to sleep, or are you going to stew?"

She wants me to take up scrapbooking, because one meets a lot of nice people that way. She works in a scrapbooking store, but not the kind that stocks scores of cutesy-pie, down-home items. Her store is full of things that I actually liked--modern, elegant things I didn't even know existed in the scrapbooking realm. So, maybe I'll give it a go. Goodness knows I need to do something with these shoeboxes full of photos and memorabilia, and it might be a way to meet some crafty new friends. You never know.

J and I dug out some acrylic craft paints, and after I read the newspaper we're going to paint the little wooden nine-drawer storage unit I got him at I_kea. And that's all I know right now.

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