Last week was Jane's birthday.  She turned 12 which I consider an important birthday.  It feels like the unofficial passage from older child to young adult.  We took her to dinner at Outback so she could try a 'bloomin' onion' which she had heard about on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer - a show she has been enjoying for the last few months.  She loved it, of course, but I just love the fact that when it comes to her birthday and she is allowed to pick a restaurant, she almost always picks something new.

At dinner began the scavenger hunt.  Scott came up with an amazing gift for her - 2 tickets to P!nk - and wanted to make the giving a special event so he created a scavenger hunt where she had to do good deeds in order to earn puzzle pieces which she put together over the weekend and learned about this great gift.  She's a huge fan.  I enjoy her music and attitude a lot, too, so I'll be the adult in charge of taking her.  (I know.  Quite the sacrifice!)  It made her birthday memorable and I hope was a good connection for her and her father.

I'm looking forward to these teenage years.  It's going to be rough, I'm sure, but seeing her grow so far has been pretty amazing.  The next few years will define her future and she has great plans for that.

Just a quirky observation.

If your husband has a 'work wife' and you are not threatened by her, I think it's best not to meet her if possible.

I rather assumed because I'm not the overly jealous/possessive type and I'm pretty open and understanding to him needing someone at work to confide in, I wouldn't mind it a bit. Instead - after meeting her - I find myself in a conundrum. I wonder why he chose to confide in her specifically. Interestingly, when we first got married I had this friend with habits that bothered both of us, but he had much less tolerance. Eventually friendship ended partly because of those habits - at times they could be offensive. Oddly, 'work wife' has extremely similar habits. So why does it not bother him when he was so adamant not to spend time with my old friend? He doesn't seem to see it and -of course - I cannot say anything because no matter what, it would come off as jealousy.

It also bothers me that I've spent years telling him to be honest with me and I, in turn, have been honest with him - yet he tells me that he complains about me to 'work wife'. How am I supposed to fix anything if he won't talk to me?

So I advise, if possible, that if your spouse has a 'work spouse' and you have no reason to think anything hinky is going on, just let them have 'work spouse', but make them leave 'work spouse' at work.