TheBanyanTree: Hurry!

[Margaret R. Kramer]

According to the weather person, the sun wasn't supposed to hang around too
much yesterday, so we had to hurry to get our outside chores done.  A strong
low-pressure system was zooming in from Canada and it was expected to drive
the sun away.  This same low-pressure system will steer Wilma towards
Florida tomorrow.  It's funny how very distant weather systems can affect
each other.

We did the preliminary winter preparations yesterday.  I gathered up all the
cute garden decorations and packed them away.  Ray mowed the leaves in the
front yard.  I stacked all the lawn chairs and tables together for later
storage.  I'm giving the potted plants one more week to live before I dump
them out and store the pots in the garage.  I don't think we're going to
have a killing freeze this week, so I'd like to let them bloom for another
seven days.  And currently, their blooms are beautiful.

I went for a quick 30-minute walk at the path park.  It was cooling down and
the wind was picking up, so there weren't a lot of people there.  What a
change from a few weeks ago when the park was still hosting large picnics
and the paths were jammed with people enjoying the sun and warm weather.
I'm looking forward to the park's emptiness as fall moves into winter.

The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent sitting at the computer paying our
bills.  Then I went through Ray's divorce papers.  Ray is getting a divorce
from his wife.  Ray and I have been living together for almost eight years
and I guess it's time.  Her cheapo attorney, who can't spell or write
grammatically, so God only knows how he got into law school, sent the
financial disclosure papers for Ray to fill out.  Since I'm the keeper of
the money, I filled out the forms.  It's like having someone peek into our
underwear drawers, since I consider our finances private, especially from
Ray's wife, who is sure Ray is dripping with money.  Originally Ray sent her
papers prepared by an attorney that she could sign and everything would be
as it is now and would have cost her nothing.  Ray sends her money every
month, plus pays for Christmas gifts and other necessities as she needs
them.  But I guess Arlene felt that wasn't enough, so she went to her cheapo
lawyer, who sent Ray an email threatening him with jail time if he didn't
mail back this form.  Neither Ray or Arlene have anything to fight over,
which is why Ray wanted to do this on the cheap, but I guess Arlene thinks
Ray has money she needs to have, so the cost of this divorce has escalated.

Our finances have been intermingled since the first day we lived together,
so I'm hoping her cheapo lawyer won't try to drag my money into the mix.  My
divorce was quite simple.  We split the equity in the house and evened out
our retirement finances.  I would assume this will happen with Ray, except
there is no house or property involved.  I'm sure I'm worrying about this
more than Ray; the process is worth the outcome, since Ray and I will become
legitimate and his tie to someone he longer cares about will end.

My heart is also racing because we are going to present our subsystem design
to our client this week.  It means another week away from home.  I'll eat
too much and probably won't exercise, because I won't feel like it.  I'll
spend way too much time with my dysfunctional coworkers and too much time
with our dysfunctional client.  Our design document has received over 600
comments from our client and we're frantically answering each one before our
meetings begin on Tuesday.  I wake up in the middle of the night drenched in
sweat after dreaming about this meeting.  I'll be so glad when it's over,
but there will be more work to do as well, since we'll begin working on the
final document, plus I have to begin developing my system test plans.

Since we have no money, a divorce action is pending, and I'll be out of town
for a week, our house is turning on us, too.  I've often thought it was a
cursed house, haunted by invisible ghosts, and I guess the spirits have
intensified their curses towards us.  The pilot light in our gas fireplace
doesn't work.  It won't keep the roaring fire blazing, which probably is a
good thing, because the fireplace does drive up the heating costs.  And this
morning, when I was turning on the lights upstairs, the power in two rooms
went out.  The circuit breaker is fine, so it must be the wiring.  It
happened several years ago, and Ray did something to fix it, but I don't
think he knows exactly what he did.  I imagine he'll have to call an
electrician to come in and fix it this time.  More money out the door.

Speaking of our house, no, it hasn't sold.  Only two people came to our open
houses last weekend and the house hasn't been shown at all this week.
Realtors have told us, first, that this time of year is traditionally slow,
second, there are too many houses on the market, and more are being listed
all the time, and finally, there are not that many buyers out there.  It's
been tough living in this kind of limbo land with a white carpet, no dogs,
and no personal stuff in our house.  I did put out the Halloween
decorations, to hell with the invisible buyers, and I'm tempted to start
sticking magnets back on the refrigerator to give our white kitchen some
color.

I realize my troubles are small compared to people who are still sorting out
their lives from Katrina and Rita.  I have a co-worker caught in the Yucatan
right now, so my thoughts are with her.  I hope she'll be able to get home
this week.  And, of course, I think about the earthquake victims in Pakistan
and Afghanistan.  Winter is bearing down on them and it seems many of them
don't have any decent shelter.  I'm sure they wouldn't mind living in my
house that doesn't have a working fireplace and power out in two rooms.
That would seem like a palace to them.  Maybe the earth is trying to tell us
something.  I feel nature tries really hard to even things out between
itself and human stupidity.

OK, time to hurry on with this upcoming week.  It can only get better,
right?

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Men say that in this midnight hour,
The disembodièd have power
To wander as it liketh them,
By wizard oak and fairy stream.
~William Motherwell