Fun weekend!

I finally got to do two things this last week that I've wanted to do for quite a while:
1) Get away for a couple of days to be a person all by myself,
- and -
2) Meet some friends in person that I've known online for over a year.

What a rush! I really enjoyed both, and I'm incredibly grateful to my lovely wife Michele for realizing I needed it, and letting me go. She's pretty tolerant these days, and hasn't given me grief for wanting to occasionally do things on my own a little. I've been a "good married family man" since 1993, and had "our friends" since about 1990 more than "my friends".

Actually thats not totally true. For the past few years, I've been able to go hang out with some friends for a few hours on the occasional Tuesday night. That's helped. In the last year, I've been able to do something besides watch TV and sit on the couch every night. Granted, playing an online game with some folks a few times a week isn't exactly living life to its fullest, but I've enjoyed it, and at some level, I've really needed it.

I feel like I've had pressure building inside me for quite a while over this. Now... It's mostly gone. I got to go hang out with friends, have some drinks, bullshit about things, go someplace different, etc.

Mainly, I got to go off by myself, without a load of condemnation, without guilt, and with approval. I don't feel like I'm staying home because I *can't* leave, but because I want to. I don't feel like an inmate in my own life anymore. What a release. I highly recommend it!