Yellow Bricks...

Master once texted “The future is a long and twisty toad.” He meant road, but his phone loves to play tricks on him.

Life is funny; it sometimes brings us to places we never expected to be.

When I last wrote about Iseley – it was my first impression of meeting her. Since then, we've spent more time together, for a while just as friends, and now, after a few hundred miles, as a cohabitant. We both wear his collar. We brat at him like crazy. And he's grinning like a mad man. We can work together as a perfect team with domestic things – she gives me no anxiety when she takes over the kitchen! – and we can hang out in the same room talking, sharing music, working on art, managing the minions... We get along as if she's always been here.

I am a giant introvert. I like to be alone, and I like having space (at least for a few hours) that is sort of mine. When her moving in presented itself as an opportunity, Master asked me if I would be okay. My honest answer was “I don't know, but this deserves a chance.”

There's a lot more I'd like to write here, but the story isn't mine alone. It isn't my place to tell you when Master first confessed to me that he had fallen in love with her; or how it was all revealed (I can say there were lots of directives to two girls to talk about “feels,” and I'd like to add that neither of us like “feelsharing”); or how she came to her own decisions about what was right for her.

The week leading up to her arriving was a ball of anxiety for me; but when she pulled in and as I texted Master to inform him she had arrived, she jumped out and hugged my car. In that moment, there was a wash of relief. She was home. And that kind of made things perfect.

There are still all sorts of things to figure out. There are things that we need to do to find our balance. We need to learn how we need to share time, so that everyone gets as much of their needs met as possible. We need to logistically divide chores and responsibilities so that none of us are overwhelmed, especially once Iseley finds the perfect job that meets her career goals and growth expectations. I don't know how it's all going to work out, but there's a certainty in my heart that it is going to work out.

In the meantime, I can see how we're all good for each other. Iseley shakes the agoraphobia out of me, and I'm more willing to go places I wouldn't normally go. She spurs all of us to actually get out the door and not hide from all the places and stuff we could be going and doing. She keeps me from being too hard on my face, my shape, my level of fitness; and I think I'm doing the same for her. She's easy to talk to, but it's also easy to just hang out in a comfortable silence with her. There's no pressure. I'm learning better how to ask for help with things, learning to let go. Her talents in the kitchen are amazing; she's a sensational chef; she's introduced all of us to a wider range of cuisine than I ever attempted.

While we have grand plans and ideas about buying two duplexes so we can just put a door between the units, that may be a long way into the twisty toad...I mean road. So in the meantime, a bigger condo? A house with a few extra rooms? And how to explain to people who visit who aren't in the know? I mean, currently, we live in a two bedroom with kids, so there's no “guest room,” and family might have some serious questions and weird responses.

But at home (despite me being a super recluse) the moments we three share... it's very comfortable.

There's something right happening.