I suppose I should reread this blog before I add posts, especially considering how long it's been since I last wrote something here. Has much changed? I guess so. I have let it out at work that I am going to retire this year. People are shocked. It's universally felt that I was married to a jerk and a bum. 100% of males (with the exception of my first ex-husband) feel that no 'real man' would take from a woman the way Bill is taking from me. I have taken a vacation to Northern California and let the young parents and Baby KJ have a week at home. KJ is growing unbelievably fast. Laura is coping well with motherhood and even went back to work parttime this week at the office where Kyle is employed. I have become comfortable with the notion of retirement and am aware that I will have major adjustments to make as I convert from one lifestyle to another. Part of it will be the lack of busyness, that at times looks like frenzy; another will be reconciling how much of my identity was tied to this school where I have worked since I graduated from college, my first job interview, the mainstay of my family's security for thirty-seven years. It will be sweet. It will be sad. It will be fun. It will be a relief. But what level of 'missing' will be involved? And what level of emptiness? It remains to be seen.