WYFP is our community's Saturday evening gathering to talk about our problems, empathize with one another, and share advice, pootie pictures, favorite adult beverages, and anything else that we think might help. Everyone and all sorts of troubles are welcome. May we find peace and healing here. Won't you please share the joy of WYFP by recommending?
Our diarist of the evening being absent, I've got this to fill the gap.
Tonight's topic -- Time (or lack of same):
When the spouse retired in October, I expected that would make things a lot better for both of us. We'd be able to get the apartment cleaned up, we could go through stuff that had piled up and get rid of excess clutter, we'd be able to go out and do fun things together like we once did; trips to SF to go to the museums and parks, maybe do some walking to get ourselves in shape for hiking.
Well, you know what they say…the best laid plans yadda yadda yadda.
The apartment is still a mess -- most of that longed for time has seen him spending more time on the computer, and when he's not on the computer his mom has been needing one or both of us to help her out with errands and appointments and the like. I'll go to bed at a fairly reasonable hour (okay, 11 pm isn't that reasonable but it's after the late night news on one of the local stations at least), and I'll wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and find he's just coming to bed. We've yet to go out and do any of the fun things we like; most of our time has been spent shopping for things his Mom needs. My crankiness level increases each day. And I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. I can't do this all alone in a vacuum --
Even my usual solution for frustration, getting away for a few days to clear my head and focus, has gone by the wayside; now that we're on a limited income that's not exactly in the budget.
I keep telling myself that this too shall pass…I'd just like to know it will pass sometime this decade.
On a related time topic, the cupboard is quite bare in terms of people stepping up to host the weekly diary, as you'll see when CJB posts the schedule (she's stepped up to the plate to co-host this series with me). WYFP depends on you, dear readers, to support the series not just with your comments and your recs/tips, but with your diaries as well. Don't worry that your problems may seem small and trivial -- finding time to keep a marriage relatively content ranks pretty small in the grand scheme of things, but it's my fucking problem this week. Anything that keeps you from achieving what you want or need to achieve is indeed a Fucking Problem for you -- and maybe we can help brainstorm to find potential solutions.
So that's me for the week -- what's on your plate?