I really appreciate your input and thought a lot about it, Dropsie. Thank you. I do feel that I really can trust this friend, though. We've been through a lot together and have a very healthy amount of respect for each other and our boundaries, etc. We went out for coffee/cocoa and when I told her that I was in treatment, she was floored. I rather expected she would be, and for that I was grateful. My worst case scenario was that she would say, "Thank God - I've been praying for you to get help."
The next words from her were that she already admired me for all that she knows I am handling (stressful job, raising these girls by myself halfway across the country from my family), and this just increased her esteem for me. Because I'm handling it.
Wow. My turn to be floored.
I didn't expect rejection, but I most certainly did not expect admiration.
That was a nice moment.
On my way to group this evening, I lost my monthly train pass. So that's $20 extra worth of fare I'll need to pay this month. But I figure whoever found it was probably pretty happy, so that's ok. Nicer than that, though: I mentioned losing my pass to Keep It Real Guy as we were gathering for the evening and he said, "Are you all right? I can loan you some cash." How nice was that! I told him I was fine. But was really touched by the offer.
We got our schedules for next week, and I've graduated so that I get a day off. I always was a good pupil.
