That's How It Is With Relationships, It's

My Life Is Actually Very Boring. The Life Of A Bestselling Novelist Sounds Like It Ought To Be Spectacularly Glamorous And Fun, But In Fact I Spend Most Of My Time Incognito, And In Fact Were You To Pass Me In The Street You Would Think I Was Just Another Dowdy Suburban Mom.

Jules Says There Are Three Things That Make You A Grown-up: An Eight-piece Set Of Matching Dishes; Gin, Vodka And Whiskey In The House; And Making Your Bed Every Morning. I Disagree With Her. I Think You're Officially A Grown-up When You've Got Another Half. When You Don't Have To Live In Fear Of Other Couples. When You Don't Have To Feel You're Not Good Enough.

When I'm Single, I'm This Fabulous, Independent, Confident Woman, And Then I Get Involved With One Disastrous Man After Another And I Turn Into This Needy, Insecure, Fearful Girl Who Becomes Frightened Of Her Own Shadow.

I Am Divorced, And One Of The Things I Am Tremendously Grateful For Is That My Ex-husband And I Made A Decision To Go Through Mediation. I Knew A Trial Would Drag On For Years, Would Cost Me Everything, But Worse, Would Be Devastating For Our Four Small Children.

I Do What Most Women Do. I Meet Someone And Some Of It's Right, Maybe He Looks Right, Or Has The Right Job, Or The Right Background, And, Instead Of Sitting Back And Waiting For Him To Reveal His Other Bits, I Make Them Up. I Decide How He Thinks, How He's Going To Treat Me, And, Sure Enough, Every Time I Conclude That This Time He's Definitely My Perfect Man, And All Of A Sudden, Well, Not So Suddenly Perhaps, Usually Around Six Months After We've Split Up, I See That He Wasn't The Person I Thought He Was At All.