<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> <B> I am wondering now if he has seen the fantasy for what it was and is beginning to feel stressed. Looks like the excitement should have worn off.<P>But somehow I feel like the trouble in Paradise has really begun. </B> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Hi Martha, good to see you posting, I enjoy reading your writing.<P>I think you can bet your house that trouble in paradise began almost from the word go. There is an African-American proverb that says something like "A dog that will bring you a bone is a dog who will take it away." Another that says "Watch the way that you get a man, for the way you get your man is the way you will lose him." Yet a third saying, "A man who will cheat with you is a man who will cheat on you." <P>I picked up those bits of earthy wisdom after working my entire career in inner city ghetto neighborhoods. <P>Having been divorced for nearly seventeen years, I sure identify with your concerns. The pain is long gone, but there still is an interest in how this woman who brought three kids into this world with me is doing. They can divorce you, but when there are children are involved, it is never really over is it?<P>My ex had at least three OM, all married men with Harley Davidson Motorcycles. At least that is all I know of. OM #3 died recently, and the kids and I helped out with the funeral. Not much else one could do. We get along pretty good nowadays, for three or four hours at a clip, but when I get home, I'm still thankful that I'm no longer married to her. Pretty good chance that is a mutually held observation.<P>OM #1 was so long ago, he is no more than a ghost of a memory. There are no bitter feelings, no feeling of hurt, no sense that this guy even exists. He is just a zero, a non entity. It was a big mistake to refer to him as an ***hole. Turned out he just wasn't that important. If it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else. He didn't have enough significance to waste emotions on.<P>Today is Trinity Sunday. The sermon this morning focused on human relationships in light of the mysterious relationships among the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. It is a mystery we don't understand, but as Christians, we <B>accept.</B> Hold that thought.<P>Do you remember when it was in vogue to be in some kind of shock and "gaps" were all the rage? We had gender gaps, age gaps, and cultural gaps adnauseum. I don't for a minute believe that we ever had any of those gaps, what we really had was an ACCEPTANCE gap.<P>Now, please, bring to mind the Serenity Prayer.<P>{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Martha}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}<P>Prayers and stuff,<P>Bumper <P>
