Hey there! Told ya I'd be wordy. So as a little aside and a happy thing, I thought I'd throw out there that I finished all of Kingdom Hearts 2. LOVED it. And after watching The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on TV the other night, I am now re-reading the Chronicles in eager anticipation of Prince Caspian. These books are perfect for movie adaptation because they leave so much up to your imagination and aren't as detailed as something like Harry Potter.**
Also, thank you so much for your wonderful support in the comments. You are really too kind, and it helped a lot. I've responded to them within the comments of the last post as well.
So now that you've had a little dash of light, let me get into the heavy stuff. Here is what I've (along with Hub's help) come up with for some of the issues.
1. I've decided to step back a bit from my friendships and evaluate where they stand. Am I reading more into the friendship than is actually there? If I am, I can then withdraw a little and take it for what it is. It's fine to have acquaintances and friendly co-workers, or even friends with few strings attached. I just have to be sure I know that's where the relationship is before I look for more support than is actually there. I also have to be more cautious and ensure that I am valuing myself first and foremost.
2. There's not much I can do about this other than work through the stages of grief. However, just putting it out there made me feel a lot better. I also talked to a friend of mine who said that she has never stopped working through it. She lost her Grandma 7 years ago. Her Grandma was the woman who raised her for a good portion of her life. She said it's gotten easier, but she still grieves some and misses her daily. Like me, she said her death just occurred at a time when she seemed more vulnerable to all the ramifications. It made me feel better to know I'm normal in this.
I will tackle 3 & 4 later. I got some advice and some decent ideas for them today as a matter of fact. Five requires its own whole essay I'm sure. Think I'm wordy now? You haven't seen the half of it. ;-)
**Which I also love, along with probably 80% of the rest of the known world.