Spicy Sausage

To be fair to The Eldest, she did complete the task I assigned to her when I realised that I had forgotten one of the key ingredients for our favourite dish: chorizo, gnocchi and mozzarella bake.

The chorizo she picked up looked dark and expensive, but the language on the product was a barrier to us both, so it was only when we came to eat that we realised just how spicy the sausage was! We got through it though and mainly enjoyed the added frisson to what is a fairly standard meal, plus it served as an emergency blip.

It has been a strange day where once again I was taken back through time to more recent painful history following a visit from one of my neighbours. She had been listening to a podcast about mental health and the podcaster had related a tale of how he had pushed himself out of his comfort zone by knocking on a neighbours door and having a chat. Inspired by this, and having previously been invited to do so a couple of days previous by me, she had done the same and knocked on my door!

She has recently split from her long time partner in a manner not dissimilar to the dissolution of my second marriage, and is understandably heart broken, but the more she talked about her relationship the more it became clear we had been leading parallel lives, until eventually she laughingly exclaimed: “you’re the male version of me!” Given the vice versa implications here, it was at that moment that I felt really sorry for her.

From our vantage point in the bay window, we could see her sister stopping by to deliver something, so she was invited in for a brew too and together we all shared our experiences of how we got through the breakdown of our marriages/relationships. I think we did it in a positive way though ie. Not all doom and gloom and “this is the end, my friend” etc. I have to say that she appears to be doing much better than I was two months in, her head is in the right place, putting the children first and focusing on all the right things, the heart on the other hand (as well all know) is an entirely different matter and it is a long road ahead in trying to piece that back together.

The Eldest popped in as we were sat talking and I told her that I was now offering a support group, which she was welcome to join. She politely declined and went on her well.

I could have happily chatted with them both all day, but in the end I did have to get some work done so we parted ways and agreed that we must do it again. 

Chorizo-aside there was some bonus time with the wee ones as together with EW2 we attended an open evening to look around one of the secondary schools in town and in the evening, I sat with The Eldest helping her draft a CV for a job in Waterstones with one eye on the football as West Ham won the first leg of their Europa Conference semi-final.

<fade to bubbles blowing everywhere>