Me and Ms. Lemons have an uncomplicated relationship, she sleeps on the chair in my office and occasionally runs around the house, I feed her and keep her litterbox clean.

Sometimes she jumps on my lap and I pet for a minute before she runs away.

I’m OK with that. I’ve been surrounded with female energy my entire life, in addition to Ms. Lemons my oldest daughter Claire lives with me most of the time, and her sister Grace is here during college breaks.

There are some guys in our culture who are negative about the fairer gender, especially guys who were taken to the cleaners in messy divorces. I don’t feel that way, I was married to Rachel for 20 years and I hope she finds happiness now and in the future. I realize now that we were just not a good match together, but I’m eternally grateful that we were together long enough for Claire and Grace to happen, so to speak.

So, I’ve been single now for over a year. It was weird not having someone next to me when I woke up in the morning. I made the mistake of getting out and dating too soon. I learned very quickly that quality is far more important than quantity, I also learned that I needed to slow down.. I even stopped dating for a few months.

Work was a bit of a distraction, in the last 12 months I recruited and developed a sales team. This resulted in a deep sense of satisfaction and a nice income.

Cut down some palm trees in my yard, and cleaned up the gardens.

Got a new roof on the house, along with a 10 kilowatt solar array.

Built a nice firepit.

Spent lotsa time hanging out with my parents, they both turn 70 this year.

Took Grace to hike the Rockies in June.

Went to church each week to atone for my various sins, past and present.

Wrote a book about selling solar, which is now in the final editing stages.

Got a gig writing articles for several area magazines.

Paid off lotsa debt.

Time went by, healing wounds, granting me wisdom and perspective on all of it.

And I feel like God has a plan for me, even though it might involve being single for a few years, especially if I have more lessons to learn. I was never good at PATIENCE.

Why was I blessed with such a big heart if not to love someone again?

December 2018.