This Is 61

This is what 61 looks like after more than a year’s worth of life rebuilds hits you from all sides

Updates

I turned 61 this week and I think it’s time for me to do some life updates here. It’s been a few months since the most recent life update after my separation from my wife and moving out on my own.

the patio to my apartment

I moved to a much better living place. I was living in a basement with two 22 year olds who had 2 pit bulls and didn’t care if they left a mess. I am now in my own 2 bedroom apartment with a small patio on the ground floor. I am about 85% unpacked and have a goal to be all settled in and unpacked by the end of September. My cat Forrest is all settled in and has a place where she can get some morning sunshine.

Divorce

My divorce from Reba was final on July 10, 2024. It was sad to go through the ending of an almost 22 year relationship [we were married for just over 16 years of that time] but at the same time, I am glad that it’s over. We are staying civil and we watch each other’s cats when we are out of town.

Dating

This is the one thing I was never really planning on doing for sometime. But when you join a group of Meetup.com people, connections get made. I met someone at the end of March, but she put me in the friend zone after 2 dates. Almost 4 months later, nothing happened past a measly hug every so often. And I realized she never wanted anything serious. There is more that was planned with her like a Disney cruise in December [which I have completely backed out of] and talk of renting a house together 2 weeks before I was supposed to move to this new apartment – but just being a roommate. Yeah, it was weird. But that is done and we are good with where things are just being friends.

Almost two weeks ago, I met someone else and we have been inseparable since. We are going at a very moderate pace and this is the happiest I have been in more than 6 years. They say when you are not looking, someone comes along. That is what happened here. I will share more as time, privacy and permission allows. But for now, this feels really good to me.

Resilient

I have been through a lot these last 5 years and I give a lot of credit to my therapist. With her, I really do not know how I would have made it this far and this intact.