12 days

Twelve days have passed since I was told the truth:  that the man I thought I knew, isn't the man I thought I knew.  Brad Paisley sings a song about being "so much cooler online", a song that makes a chuckle out of some of the lies men (and women) tell about themselves...  

Maybe its easy to let a little white lie ride, when you think or assume nothing will come of it.  In Brad Paisley's song he tells that he's 6'5" tall online, when in reality he's only 5'3".  You hear all the time about women who meet men who've misrepresented themselves (and vice versa).  I've had it happen to me in the past. 

I had been chatting with a man who told me he was a lawyer, who said he was 42 and "tall, dark and handsome" -- and even sent me his picture!  When I happened to be vacationing not far from him, we agreed to meet, drive up to Reno and make a day of it.  When I arrived, it turned out he wasn't tall - more like 5'7" ... he wasn't dark, he was totally grey ... and handsome - well its hard to view someone in any kind of good light when you know they've  uh stretched the truth a bit.  As for being 42 years old?  I think he might have meant he was born in 1942 instead!   I've told this story here before, as it's a comical one and embodies the whole thing about online hookups.  Makes you wonder how much truth is in a person's profile if they use some dating site.

One of the feelings I had when everything "dumped" was being so grateful that I didn't have to explain this whole mess to very many people.  Only four people are trusted enough to know about it in its entirety, and of those, only one knows the entire story from beginning to end.  (you know i loves ya!) But that also means that there's a lack of support from places where I should be getting it from... family, even casual friends can be supportive in times like these.  But other than kind words, and some sympathy, there's nothing else to be done except move on the best way you know how.   Just know that I'm grateful for their support.

Things aren't always what they seem. 
And if your gut instinct says one thing,
don't let your emotions fool you.  

At the Park

Feeling restless, I spent the afternoon wandering in Red Mountain Park.  I kept wishing it would rain, or even better, storm up really big.  I felt the need for something big and powerful today.   And of course, I had my camera with me, just in case! 

Just a few clouds, which helped keep the heat down of course, but the humidity was up.  I circled the lake twice, listening to my mp3 player -- a bit of Willie Nelson:  "They let me close my eyes just then those healing hands of time, And soon they'll let me sleep again those healing hands of time, So already I've reached mountain peaks and I've just begun to climb...."

I snapped a lot of pictures, even got a shot of my favorite mountain from the parking lot.  (the rest are posted here )

When was the last time you spent 

a quiet moment just doing nothing --

just sitting and looking at the sea,

or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs,

or waves rippling on a pond, 

a flickering candle or children playing in the park?

~Ralph Marston