Welcome Back…

…to that same old place that you laughed about
Well the names have all changed since you hung around
But those dreams have remained and they’ve turned around
Who’d have thought they’d lead ya
(Who’d have thought they’d lead ya)
Back here where we need ya
(Back here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot ’cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

I thought it was appropriate. So much has changed, yet so much is still the same. I drifted away from OD long before it went defunct and I regret that. I think I need someplace to just be me without the pressures of “social” media. My family finally infiltrated my social media accounts, and my co-workers were getting offended at not being added to the point that I created a separate facebook just for work to stop the badgering. I don’t use that one much and all but two people from my “real” facebook are blocked from even seeing it.

Some updates:

I bought a house! it was a Fannie/Freddie foreclosure and the bank was frustrated to the point of just wanting what was left on the original note, so it was a steal. It’s only 800 square feet but it’s on just under half an acre and NO Imperial interference (there’s no HOA, lol).
I’ve started fencing in the property, I’m trying to garden enough to grow my own food, and next year I want to add bees, rabbits, and chickens. The more food I can grow and the more money I can raise away from work the less I’m tied to a job that is increasingly frustrating due to my boss’s ambitions and political machinations.
Ember got married (to someone new), she and her husband took a new name to found a Line and have already produced an heir, all in about a year. I don’t know if she’ll be back or not, but she knows OD is back.
I finally got over Critter, but we’re still friends.
I started seriously interviewing for Senior Manager jobs but found a Corporate Trainer job I liked better and took it. It’s the same pay grade as my old job but now I’m tied to a clock, so basically I got a raise since I went from working 50+ hours/week to no more than 40.
K is going to be a teenager in October and has started to notice boys, it seems like just yesterday she was falling asleep in her car seat in the back of my truck. B is a high school senior and dating some boy. He seems nice enough (she wanted me to meet him). D graduated last year, moved out, and joined the National Guard. I don’t know his specific MOS but it’s something to do with Army Intelligence. He’s just finished up AIT at Ft. Unpronounceable out in Arizona and should be home later today if he doesn’t get re-routed to the southern border to support ICE.
Dirty Girl got married, grew out her hair, and had another child. I’m not sure of the actual order, but knowing her it was probably the least convenient for everyone involved.
Both Amandas have cut me out of their lives, and I have no idea why. AmandaC deleted her social media presence and her phone number has changed, AmandaS has actively blocked me on facebook but still maintains a profile. I reached out in an e-mail to see why but never received a reply. Also, after doing some digging into my mother’s family tree on Ancestry.com it turns out AmandaS and I may be cousins, so it’s probably a good thing we never dated, lol.
Amber and Jerm went their separate ways, but I’ve seen them both and they seem happy. The only friction I noticed was over the different parenting styles they have for Bun (who is only a year or two younger than K so isn’t really a “bun” anymore). Amber does the normal mother of an only child wrap him in bubble wrap when he leaves the house thing and when Jerm has him it’s the normal father of a son style of parenting where boys will be boys and if he comes home with all the equipment he was born with everything is good.
Queeg’s mother the Admiral finally retired and it didn’t take long for her to end getting busted down from facility manager to entry-level floor sweeper at one of the smaller stores in Florida when she lost mommie’s protection. She’s managed finally to work her way back up to entry-level manager. Hopefully she’s learned how to behave like a civilized human being in the climb back up the ladder. I don’t actively keep track of her, but when her name pops up on the grapevine people usually let me know. I’ve said it before, I do not wish the woman ill, I just want her far away from me.

I haven’t dated anyone in the interim, but not for lack of trying. There were two people, one of whom expressed interest but was married, and as with the Belle situation I told her I can’t bring myself to cheat. She ended up filing for divorce (not because of me, that had been building for some time) and we talked about dating and even had lunch a couple of times. Then one week when I was off work I sent a text to confirm tentative lunch plans we had made the week before and never heard back from her. That was almost a year ago. She’s posted selfies of her and her new boyfriend a couple of times on facebook since. All she had to do was say something, just blowing me off like that was rude. EDIT: She’s popped back up as a character in my life story so she needs a name now, I’m gonna go with “Elsa”.

There was another person that started flirting with me. We had discussions about when I’d meet the kids, personal grooming habits, what she liked and didn’t like in bed, what I was allowed to do to her when I was “in the mood” and she was asleep, etc. Whenever I mentioned maybe taking her out on an actual “date” instead of just talking and texting she would scream “don’t rush me!” Ok. She finally decided we would be better off as friends.

I am so happy the community is back, I really am. I do need to do some maintenance on my diary; for some reason the chapters are listing alphabetically instead of chronologically and I can’t find a way to sort it, also our front pages seem to be gone, so I may have to do a Cast of Characters entry to replace it since I don’t use real names here to protect the anonymity of myself, my friends, and the people I talk about. OD being back again may very well enable me to keep my current position until I’m self-sufficient and can return to the store I started in all those years ago and just work part-time five miles from my home instead of driving down to the nearest Metro area five days a week.

I’ve sent out messages to the folks from OD I stayed in touch with on other platforms, but I don’t know how many of them will be back. One of them has been dormant for almost as long as OD was, but the profile is still there and a quick news search in her hometown doesn’t reveal any badness. Others have found other outlets, either independently hosted blogs, YouTube vlogs, or regular social media and may choose not to return. I’m sure they’ll make the choices that are right for them, and I look forward to making new e-friends along the way.

I’m glad to be here again. And hopefully it’s a very very long time before OD decides to regenerate and leave us all in the lurch again.