This discussion on BIDs and image problems has been hard to read--good to read, but hard--because it hits so many sore spots that are far more sore than I thought they were even after all this time.

Allyson, thanks for posting what you did with your history with your mom. I'm glad she owned up to the fact that she was wrong, and regretted what she did.

Preach it, Teppy!

Say, don't you have a birthday coming up?

t whistles innocently, shuffles feet

Coffee: Fay, I forgot to tell you, but that is a FABULOUS haircut. And yes, you should definitely make the first move with Bloke.

Preach it, Teppy!

I preach straight from the pit of muck, you know? I'm barely any mentally healthier than I used to be, back when we were on Table Talk. I've learned how to cope when the ugly shit trips me up (and sometimes I don't cope *well*), but I doubt that I'll ever be able to make the ugly shit go away.

And maybe that's the secret: you can't make it go away, but you can learn how to, more or less, deal with it when it gets in your face.

Teppy is wise.

I just spent the last half an hour cleaning up shit. Owen yelled to me, "Owibia has a stinky diaper!" And by the time I got upstairs she had ditched her pull up--losing its contents in two different rooms. I did manage to find a really great organic stain lifter at the furniture store that can really clean up shit, though.

So, yay?

Man, that's one hell of a set of storm cells out there. The sirens just went off, again. This time it's coming at us from the southeast.

I think we still have 3 more hours of Tornado Warning. Gonna go take a peak outside. It was super sunny last I looked.

I found a picture of me from my senior prom when I was cleaning out stuff at Mom's the other day.

sj, I gotta ask: did you make a deal with the devil, because you don't appear to have aged AT ALL since then. (Also, you are so stunning, and pictures do NOT do you justice, because as pretty as that picture is, you are, like, 100 times more stunning in person.)

Thank you for saying that. I was looking at that picture thinking how good I looked that night and how horrible I look right now, so that is nice to hear. That night was one of the few times in my life when I really and truly believed I looked pretty.

Before I met TCG, I was very much resigned to the fact that I was going to be single for the rest of my life. I also thought I deserved to be.

This is me. I still don't think I "deserve" The Boy, but he feels the same way about me, so it's a case of our fucked-upped-ness meshing fairly well.

I still don't really feel like I "deserve" TCG either. I continue to be in awe of the fact that he loves me. Our fucked-upped-ness does mesh well also. Except it would help maybe if one of of wasn't a pack rat, since we both really are. t still unpacking stuff

Allyson, Tom - I wish I could just hold you both until you felt better. I suspect if I really could,you both might feel much more uncomfortable than I would. But I am holding you guys in my heart, anyway.

I suspect that Steph is right, it will never go away. I just hope it can be put in the past ,where it belongs. And theat goes for all of you that ever suffered from that kindof cruelness.

I swear I have to write my folks a thank you note. Not perfect people, but I felt loved and liked by them.

tornado people - stay safe