2001-04-03 - 10:06 a.m.

WOW !! I'm SO EXCITED that the time is finally correct according to the diaryland site!! I'm freed of my one obsession!

Well almost-- I really have more than one obsession. I am sure I will still struggle with dirty dishes in the sink. I do have this obsessive tendency to clean them before I ever leave the house to go anywhere. Even if I have to be somewhere at 9am and it is 8:50-- I will illogically think-- "This will only take a few minutes. I'll just finish these before I leave."

There is no reasoning involved in my thought process at those times. I basically am emotionally driven by some strange need to never leave a mess in the kitchen lest I be considered a slob. Of course the fact that the REST of the house is in shambles never phases me...

This dish cleaning obsession had been the root cause of me being late to work in the past, and has been the behavior that has instigated many marital arguments... I hear "How can the dishes be more important than ME?"

prioritize!

I try

And yes if I could just logically set priorities I would admit that it IS more important to show up at the airport on time to meet my husband who is standing in the rain than clean up a sink full of dishes.

So Westley and I went on a relationship workshop this past weekend and were just amazed at how many couples have BIG issues over lateness! It was just incredible to see that we are not the only ones who feel a huge rift in our relationship at times due to what seem like such petty little things. It was pretty incredible as the couples shared their concerns at just how NORMAL we must be to find the little concerns of life to be such challenges at times.

If I knew how to add a link here I'd put one into anothge IMAGO site which tells all about what IMAGO therapy is. http://www.lfrcimago.com/ will bring you to the site of the counselors who ran the workshop we attended. I am utterly AMAZED and grateful that

1. Westley agreed to go to the workshop. (He in fact SUGGESTED it!! After months of our marriage counselor recommending it and actually using parts of IMAGO therapy with us in his office.)

2. Westley did not disdainfully utter "psycho babble!" even one time during the workshop!

3. Westley and I both amazingly find ourselves almost irrationally thinking their is merit in this stuff! I mean it sounds so bizarre to attribute our marital troubles to some shared childhood wounds that we can't necessarilly even remember or identify!

4. We stayed for the whole workshop and actually enjoyed it!

Its nice to be writing not out of frustration and a need to escape and vent, but out of excitement and joy that things are going well!

Baby girl awoke from her nap and the long lost window repair guys are here to finally finish the job of replacing windows they started MONTHS ago so I need to go! I have to point out where all the bird nests are in the insulation that they will have to remove from outside before they put the final touches on the woodwork on the winows exterior!

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