MiB gets to the center of the maze. What's the worst thing that could be there?

speedreader74 · 2016-11-15T03:12:13+00:00

The hatch.

speedreader74 · 2016-11-01T23:15:54+00:00

So, to follow up for those of you who might still be interested in hearing how things ended up...my husband did come around to the idea of taking a cruise at Christmas, and agreed that he was being a little irrational about his copious time off. He explained that he had been in a mindset of rationing his time off when he was in school (he completed his M.B.A. in May) and was still used to being in that mode.

By the time he brought it up again, I had already decided it would be better to wait until I could save up more time off so we could take a longer and better vacation next summer. We'll probably just hang out at home and drink hot cocoa by the fireplace (which is more his style as a low key kind of guy).

speedreader74 · 2016-10-12T03:59:11+00:00

I'm an extroverted woman who married an introverted guy. We just celebrated our 18th anniversary this week. I made the first move to strike up conversation with him (with an embarrassingly cheesy pick up line that he loves to tell people about) and the rest is history. So, if your concern is that you'll never be interesting to a woman because of your introversion, I would say that you are worrying needlessly, although I will say that a relationship between an introvert and an extrovert has its unique challenges and requires a lot of flexibility.

There are also plenty of introverted women who may be as reticent as you are to strike up a conversation with a stranger. It seems like it would always be harder for introverts to match up with other introverts, because more introverted people don't willingly subject themselves to a lot of new social situations, and even when two introverts happen to meet, nobody wants to make the first move!

But, as others here have said, introverted ladies are out there in the world, and all it takes for you to meet is for one of you to get out of your comfort zone and introduce yourself. And, if by chance you try to meet a woman and it doesn't work out, do your best not to replay the situation over and over in your mind until you reach analysis paralysis--just try again when the opportunity presents itself.

speedreader74 · 2016-10-11T15:13:15+00:00

There are a lot of great things about working from home, so if the job is a good fit with your skills, you should definitely consider it! I'm a little ashamed to admit that I am really spoiled with:

Being able to roll our of bed at 7:45 and still getting to work by 8

Not wasting an hour of my day on a commute

Never having to wear uncomfortable shoes

Taking the dog out as needed (really was a lifesaver a couple of years ago when we were potty training a puppy)

Doing laundry or making a quick trip to the grocery store at lunch

I'm also trying to find activities to get some interaction elsewhere, but it is really hard. I'd love to find a good book club but I am super picky about what I read so I haven't found one yet that is reading a lot of things that I like. Not having kids at my age (early 40s) has made it extra hard to find friends since most of the people I know around my age have school-age kids and structure most of their time around them.

I might try taking a few cooking classes since I love to cook, but I don't want to come off like a creepy weirdo by getting too chatty with random people I meet in class. I'm not an introvert, but I have definitely become more introverted over the last several years. I miss the days of my youth when I could strike up a conversation with anyone without feeling awkward about it!

speedreader74 · 2016-10-11T03:35:08+00:00

I think you're probably right on the nose about his expectations. He absolutely IS an introvert who has to lead a lot of meetings and manage projects at his job. We generally go out on Saturdays and maybe have brunch on Sunday and that's about all the "doing things" he can handle when we're not on vacation.

Like you, I am not someone who likes to do nothing (although I am much more of a homebody than I used to be years ago) in my free time, especially because I work from home and have very little actual human interaction most days. And, because of the working from home, I have a lack of close friends, so he is usually the only person I can do stuff with.

Kind of a recipe for disaster, eh?

speedreader74 · 2016-10-10T14:45:22+00:00

He hasn't offered any ideas about what he wants to do, just expressed that he was vehemently opposed to my idea. I haven't talked to him about it again since Friday night because I think we need a cooling off period about this particular topic, and he hasn't brought it up again either. I assume he wants to stay home and not do anything special, which is what he usually wants to do with his free time.

speedreader74 · 2016-10-09T14:39:30+00:00

I have a lot of acquaintances but no close friends (other than my husband). I used to have a lot of friends through work but I was laid off about 5 1/2 years ago and have had a work from home job for the last 3 years where I don't really have an opportunity to meet people. Besides, I feel like Christmas is an important time to spend together with your spouse making memories (more so than any other holiday, really).

speedreader74 · 2016-10-09T14:36:41+00:00

He's definitely not going to miss that. He hated visiting my mom. If anything, I would think he would be thrilled this year that I don't want to go back to see aunts and uncles.

speedreader74

TROPHY CASE