An Eventful Week

July 11 we took our daughter to the airport so she could fly off to Paris with my mother-in-law - - a trip I have been dreading since January, but even more so after my husband and I separated.

I felt that I should have been the one to take my only daughter on her first trip abroad, but she didn't seem to be bothered by it, so. . .

I let go and sent her on her way, and hoped she would have a good time.

And down the stairs they went . . . 

The morning of July 12, I had a dentist appointment to repair a cracked filling. He convinced me that I didn't need Novacaine, so I let him drill into my tooth and then fill it in - - no pain medication needed!!! I didn't have to dribble coffee down my chin all morning. I liked it!!!

At about 2:30 PM I was on the phone with my attorney going over last minute changes in the separation agreement. While I was on the phone, it beeped to let me know there was an incoming call. I thought I could get off the phone in time, but I couldn't, and the phone beeped again. By the time I got off the phone, my husband walked into the house just in time to hear the message from our child who was just the slightest bit upset. She couldn't get her phone to work and she didn't seem to be getting any sympathy or help from her grandmother. 

We called Paris and spoke with her. By the time we got her on the phone she was back in her room and calm. While I talked to her on our house phone, my husband called Verizon on a cell phone to see what they could do to correct the problem. About fifteen minutes later all was well and everyone's phone was working - - crisis averted!! Now she is able to communicate with me and give me blow by blow accounts of how things have been going. Let's just say, I don't think grandmother and granddaughter are going to BFF's by the end of the trip.

At 4:00 PM we were at the attorney's office getting last minute questions answered and papers signed. Seems like there should have been some sort of fanfare or champagne, put instead, we each got a copy of the agreement, and off we went.

Although this is all still very sad, it now seems real, and there is a strange sense of comfort not being in limbo anymore.

My husband was here today to start packing his things. I looked in the closet tonight and cried, and then quickly spread out my clothes to fill in the empty space.

Before he left, we worked on bank accounts, moved things around, and divided the financial responsibilities. Closing or suspending joint accounts was like taking the training wheels off, and becoming a big girl again!

Today was Bastille Day in France and a new kind of Independence Day in Maryland.