mysteries of marriage

We had friends over for dinner. Look at us. Being social. It was Mr. Jenner's best man/university flat-mate and his wife, and their baby. His wife is from Romania originally, and I like her a great deal. She is incredibly sweet, a lot of fun to talk to, and being from somewhere else, we kind of have the same observations about British life. (plus understanding paperwork that comes with trying to become a citizen.) Dinner was excellent, they enjoyed everything I made, the kids adored the baby (who is a pretty cute little chunk.) and they had the best time entertaining him. It was fun to see Mr. Jenner with the baby. He's always been good with our kids, and baby A. (he has the same name as Mr. Jenner) really took to him. Mr. Jenner holding a baby will always be appealing to me. It was good to catch up, since we haven't seen them since last year at a wedding. (another university friend of Mr. Jenner's. One of the last of that circle of friends to marry) For awhile it seemed like we saw everyone on a regular basis at weddings. Now it is all about traveling on holiday and dropping in to see people, admire children, talk life.
Another couple was brought up over dinner. Our friends live near the couple in question. (J. the best man, grew up with the husband of the near by couple. S. and E.) would see them fairly often, and we learned that not too long after S. and E. bought their new house, E. (the wife) said, "oh I need some space. Moving is stressful." So he went to stay at his parents place for a few nights and... has been living there ever since. It seems E. does not want him in the house. It turns out she sort of has this thing going on with a former co-worker of hers. And she seems to be of the mind that she will get the house, and maybe she will get a divorce? (something about being supported) Who knows. S. who has always been the nicest sorts, is patiently waiting for something. I guess E. told our J's wife (C.) about this boyfriend. And of course C. mentioned it to J. who in turn told his best friend S. "hey your wife has someone else." Which was a big surprise to S.
It is all messy and unpleasant and sad.
I understand that marriages don't always turn out the way you envision, and sometimes they end. But this is a kind of messy limbo, that has made everyone raise an eyebrow because of things we recall about E. when she first began to date S.
E. has always been a bit of a princess, and hey, I can be a bit of a princess too. But there was something slightly unkind about how she would treat S. And he would always be gracious and polite. And who knows what their relationship was like in private. But the viciousness in the teasing on her end, and the way she would blame him for things like the weather being uncooperative was one of those things that made me wonder.
I just hope that he will be okay in the end.
Anyhow, it was good to have dinner with friends, and to play with a delightful baby, and introduce people to things like strawberry shortcake.

and they're off

Today was sports day at school, so we sat with family and watched children run and run and so on. Senor Onion is a heck of a runner and to me the best thing is that when things weren't going right, he had a smile on his face, and found the humor when his football was lost in the hedge for a bit. The best part? No parents races. Phew. There was tea, ice cream, and biscuits afterwards, and of course used uniform sale. (always done at those things because dang kids... growing.) I found a few pieces for Miss Biscuit's uniform next year. It's pretty basic, but it's good to get some things out of the way. There are summer and winter uniforms. The upside it makes getting dressed pretty simple in the morning.

I just received an update on the miserable marriage situation as mentioned in the last post. It seems that the wife (E.) is now living with her boyfriend. (he moved into the big new house that was purchased about two months ago.) And S. has decided to get a divorce. This is all truly sad and unpleasant. I just feel for S. It is even more sad because they have a young child. Oh well..eh?