Oh I feel your struggle.

I'll look that up, it sounds wonderful.  Thanks for the tip!

How odd. That sounds like a significant amount of common ground/shared experience. People are so weird aren't they?

Oh it's so good, especially in hot weather. Also maybe make and freeze a load of soup so your winter self will love your summer self.

Possibly. It may well go this way and if so I do hope you’re right, but judges round here are unpredictable and he tells a *very* compelling story when he wants to (exhibit A: he faked a whole personality and reader, I married him.) I would be much happier with the idea of going to court if it didn’t leave me…

All excellent things to do. If you’re sad then it’s ok to be sad too. You might not have the energy to feel it fully right this minute but when something really fucking sad is happening it can be easy to forget that sadness is a totally appropriate emotional response. Hell I’m sad to hear about your sister’s behaviour…

That’s a lovely thing to read, thank you for saying so.

That makes sense. I have coeliac disease so any base-matetial in my version would be super crumbly anyway. Baked base sounds very good!

Basil and mint, loads and loads of each!

I’m rolling my eyes on your behalf. You are very brave to have been willing to meet for coffee. Perhaps it’s the app, perhaps it’s a flat-out ghost. If it’s the former you’ll probably find out soon enough and may be have a shot at round 2. If it’s the latter they’re very rude.

Here’s to healing. It’s so unfair that we’re primed to expect our born family to be our people by default, when so often they do the most damage.

My aunt visited this week bringing lots of home grown vegetables and I couldn’t bear to cook the carrots this evening so I kept them raw and used the peeler to make a salad with red onions, lots of fresh herbs and a simple dressing. I spent a year in the middle east and I will always want salads in spicy weather.

This looks delicious! My Mum made something similar but without a base; it has to be served straight from the freezer though; your recipe looks much better!

Yes please, just say the word when you’ve got the bandwidth x

Ah ok, that makes it weirder by far. It might be like a time when i was temping in a huge office and inexplicably made myself a nemesis. This one woman hated me for no discernable reason, it was utterly bizarre. I hope if it's getting under your nails that you find some resolution soon.

Thank you for all of that. Co-signed on each and every point!

Oh my dear, maybe one day we’ll all work out how to be as kind to ourselves as we are to each other, hey?

I agree entirely, I’d just much rather avoid spending assloads of cash going to court to win money that wouldn’t change anything anyway. A big settlement wouldn’t make the past any different, and it wouldn’t accelerate my healing.

I barely use FB and have a cull on Facebook every few years. I make sure that the only people I follow/am friends with fall into one of the following 3 categories:

Maya, I am sure I’m not the only one here who sees your strength, your resilience, your compassion and your spark...even through this shitride you’re stuck on for now.