Carla35--thanks for your thoughtful insight. I think that you're right about him staying out of my life if he really cared. Our counselor and DH know all about this guy--all the history, all the embarrassing past, and about me lying that we had a sexual relationship--although not about the recent contact. DH made a huge deal out of everything, and I felt really horrible about myself, and it finally reach the point where counselor told him that he was creating a hydra situation, where each time one head is smashed, two grow back. He told DH that he had to stop obsessing about it and decide whether or not this was going to be a "deal breaker" and it took DH almost eight months to decide. DH couldn't let it go, I still don't think he has because he has an almost impossible time forgiving people, but at minimum he is not supposed to berate me about it any more. It's frustrating b/c I wasn't unfaithful in our marriage, so first he had to deal with the pre-marriage, pre-serious-relationship-with-me stuff, then the theoretical emotional affair. I hadn't really been thinking about my friend too much for the last six or so months. The email brought back a lot of memories. It is the same guy from my other posts and the advice I got from the forum last year was helpful. However, I can't just forget about and erase all the old feelings. I try not to think about them, but I'll probably always have them--I think that's human. Because I've been spending time trying to get more in touch with my own emotions, it means that I have to experience all the sadness, pain, regret or whatever, along with the good emotions. In counseling, now, DH and I are both working on communication. We're going separately for now, partly (from what I'm being told) so that the counselor can help DH with his low self-esteem and anger issues. Most recently, I'm supposed to be figuring out what my "values" are and what's important to me, then taking steps to assert these things in the marriage without worrying about whether or not DH will be angry with me. I'm not sure how to explain it, exactly, but I'm supposed to treat DH honestly about how I feel rather than the way I think he wants me to treat him. It's not necessarily resulting in smoother interaction but I'm not feeling resentful at DH any more, and because I don't feel resentful I really do want things to work. asolo--> just to reiterate, counselor did call me on it. amy--> my DH is not physically abusive but I don't think telling him about this would do anything positive; he is a suspicious person and it's possible for him to construe that I told him only so he would think nothing was going on, therefore making him more suspicious (like I'm only doing it for show). Better to say nothing. If he ever asks me if I've heard from that guy, I will tell him about the email and that it's deleted. Even from the trash.

That's a sad house :( We were married in 79. Lived in my husband's bosses rental for 7 months before moving to an apt in N. Dallas for a year and back to E. Texas to build the home we're still in so I don't have any stories except for the exploding gas oven in the rental house. All I knew was electric. My mother had me terrified of gas cooking appliances and gas for heating. We'd huddle together in a recliner during the winter because I was too afraid of the gas tank getting too low and leaking (or something). It was a 200 gallon tank and when it got to 25%, I freaked LOL. Then I once turned on the gas oven and several minutes later remembered that I had forgotten to light the pilot light. I went flying across the kitchen when I lit the match! It was a small pleasant house. I think DH's boss spiffed it up for us more than he would have someone he didn't know :) Our Dallas apt was brand new and just a mile or so from the Valley View Mall (for those of you familiar with Dallas). We only had one car then and when David got home from work, I'd hit the mall, often till closing time. I'd NEVER walk alone to my car in a big city parking lot now. What WAS I thinking!?

Emily, Thank you for the wonderful package. I am sorry I didn't post sooner but we were out of town. I love the two vintage books: The Art of Carving and Helen Corbitt's Potluck. I already saw some recipes that I will be making. I love the fantastic seed collection that you sent and will be wintersowing these right away. Thank you also for the yummy treats: Lorna Doone cookies (love these) and yummy Lindor chocolates minus one (my son couldn't wait to try) Toberlone bar- Yum Yum Yum! I also love the tea's Irish breakfast, organic chamomile, english breakfast and Lemon Lane (great name) I look forward to a relaxing cup today after work! Also love the beautiful silver tube key! I have never seen one of those before so I will have to research it and find out more! I love everything Emily! Thank you again! Amy

Yea, Erica! You got it right with Johnny Weissmuller. You probably knew that already because all the clues fit together when you get it right. Some information/explanations: He won a total of 5 Olympic gold medals, 3 in the Paris 1924 and 2 in the Amsterdam 1928 Olympic Games (clues included collected gold, two very successful gold finding trips, played games in Paris, famous for something before he was a famous actor, part of the golden age of sports (1920's) before he was part of the golden age of Hollywood). I really didn't think about one's golden years until I saw how that clue was interpreted yesterday. I thought someone would have googled golden age and found out about the golden age of sports. The US Olympic committee calls him swimming'a first superstar. I really thought someone would have gotten it with clue 5. He was a legendary swimmer, and he starred as Tarzan, the legendary lord of the jungle. Further I used the word guerilla soldiers on purpose since it sounded like gorilla, and he managed to avoid capture by doing his Tarzan yell and then the soldiers recognized him, were big fans, and escorted him safely back to the hotel. Great job, Erica! This concludes the Blast from the Past Password game. Thank you for playing, everyone! Erica, I will get your prize out to you. I will post my package from Amy when I get back on Wednesday.