have kindly sponsored

Has the impossible dream been realised? Have my parents actually sorted their lives out?

Talks with both sets of parents this week did not result in the crashing of barriers I had hoped, but they did at least allow me to get all the issues off my chest. As it turns out, there is only one thing they do agree on. Our marriage day, the symbol of a loving and committed union, is the final straw on a long list of occasions where they feel the other has let them down.

As it would happen, these underlying issues have sprouted new immediate problems as both sides try to convince me that the place I have chosen is either gorgeous or god-awful. I have yet to discover whether the place is actually as bad as my mother is claiming or if it is just that she wants more control and thinks a move would fix this.

Later this week my father is going to do a drive by and check it out. He will confirm or deny her claims by Thursday. One particular point of worry is the For Sale sign she noticed out front.

While they have been out settling old scores, I have been out drinking with old mates. This weekend at the college where Gareth and I met, there was a reunion night in their student union. I was amazed that none of my friends except one really wanted to go. It sounded like a great time to me, back at the union, loads of cheesy music blaring, dancing like a fool with old friends. My kind of night. We ended up going at the very last minute, catching the 10:00 pm train into the college and arriving just in time to get in. I ran into loads of people, including a really good friend I had not seen for at least six months.

The union cheese worked to cure my blues and now I am back at school finishing out one of my last weeks with the kids here. This week should be pretty uneventful. Of course, say this even as I wait to hear what my father will report come Thursday.

20 March 2000,

Stacie Lewis