Back to Saturday routine

And so just like many a time when I was still married to Lisa and living with her, any time she hit a really bad negative patch like last night and believe me there were many, it affected me deeply in the aftermath. But now realizing that I may have felt it a little bit more pronounced because of my sensitivity, I have also fortified my defense mechanisms to her with these 2 tenets: realizing that everything is ME pushed out, including the experience of Lisa's bullshit. And therefore I can choose my experience afterwards too. And that this is merely stuff I need to clear and release. And this I do easily with ho'onoponopono. And so needing to be at her house first thing this morning, I recited the 4 verses over and over again. By the time I got there, I felt much better. Johnnie was ready to go and even though Lisa said nothing to me, I simply took that to mean I had neutralized  her energy, at least to me. And it had held no more power. We could let her go on with her day and Johnnie and I could go on with ours.  Already a big win to start the day... Awesome! From there I should have gone back to the apartment to shower Johnnie since I knew he didn't have one last night but later on that would end up being moot. Instead we went on to Westwood because... we get to eat outside at Elysee once again! Oh man we hadn't done this since LA banned outdoors eating in December. A couple of months at least and I was only all too willing to spend extra money to simply revive our old Saturday routine. And so we enjoyed our croissant, fresh squeezed OJ, my sausage and eggs and Earl Grey hot tea outside on Gayley like we had been doing since Johnnie was a newborn! And afterwards of course we had to go to Target. I wanted to pick up puppy stuff. Mats and throwaway towels mainly. I will be better equipped for the dog next week. And so we were home before 10 AM and Johnnie had early time to watch whatever video he wanted (Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Season 2 today) while I caught up and did this journal and laundry. And of course when the time came, we had to go get lunch at Panda Express didn't we? It IS Saturday routine after all LOL. Even I simply got myself an orange chicken bowl.  And today we had to be done well before 1 PM. That's because Lisa had lined up a play date with Johnnie and Rose one of the kids in his class who they had run into the past week because she apparently lived on Rosewood, the next street over from Lisa's house.  She had asked me to do it and I was not only ok with it, I jumped at the chance. One thing I know I'm not good at is lining up kids for Johnnie to play with. And so anytime (a) he gets to go outside, and out of my apartment ... in this case the play date was at Penmar Park (b) he gets to socialize with any other kids, let alone someone from his class, I am in. And so we are at Penmar Park at 1 PM and Rose's entire family came. Both her parents and her older brother and sister came too. At first the hesitation I have with these play dates is always how I myself do with the parent(s)... the adults. The kids I know would be great. Lisa's superpower is her sociability with anyone and so she would be great. Me? I'm not always sure although I've cultivated my own sociability over the years. Today what ended up happening was that me and Rose's dad Patrick actually were the ones that ended up talking. And to my surprise we ended up talking for a couple of hours while the kids played. I mean guys can always talk sports right? But we talked about the pandemic, how the kids are doing, and I felt like I poured out a heck of a lot more personal info... how Johnnie was adopted, how Lisa and I were divorced. I mean that's how you bond with people right? By letting them get to know you?  At the end of the play date it turned out it was ME that also got a bit of socializing in which is always good considering I myself am cooped up all the time and that I don't get much of a chance to do that either in person. Except of course for golf on Sundays. And so it turned out to be a very good afternoon. And by the time we got home, it was already almost 3:30 PM. I had it in my mind to text Lisa to tell her that if she needed some more time to herself tonight, I would be happy to keep Johnnie overnight and then deliver him back on my way out to golf first thing tomorrow morning. I mean he was building his dinosaur museum, doing his drawings, doing his Johnnie things why let him back into Lisa's negative energy? Better wait until that dissipated right? Actually Lisa beat me to the punch. I knew there would always be a chance Johnnie would be staying until dinner time. And he was already in the middle of his udon when Lisa called. But not to pick him up. It was she that asked me to keep him as late as possible. And she was even ok with me keeping Johnnie overnight. It was her own snap judgement of herself that by doing so she looked like she was not a good mother that she clapped back on herself and instead asked if it was ok for me to deliver Johnnie when he was already asleep late tonight. Of course Lisa would pick the least convenient path. But to make peace I was ok with that. And so it was that I got to have Johnnie for a few extra hours this Saturday... all the way to milk time, all the way to shower time. And all the way to him knocking off to sleep before 9:30. It was what I wanted! How could I complain? And when I was sure he was knocked out I took him out of the bed and believe me with his size now it is no longer easy, and I drove him to Lisa's. And I could sense immediately her energy was 100% better. The dark side was no longer there. She took Johnnie from the car and thanked me for doing her this favor. We're all good again.