Dear DaveF:

“I feel like I am talking to you both near the end of a difficult time“- like you wrote, this is the end of a difficult time. Next will be easier. Endure the current difficulties: one hour, one day at a time, make your best choices during this time and next..  it will be easier.

“It has been over a week since my ex moved out, and although the anxiety seems to have lessened, it has been replaced with a somewhat low level depressive feeling. I feel this is normal, as I naturally miss her company and living with another person“- I used to experience that low level depressive feelings when guests had to leave, even when I did not like the guests much. We are social creatures, so once we get used to the company of another, if only by physical proximity, and even when we don’t particularly like that person- having that person gone from our home/ life is difficult.

I hope that your father heals and recovers and that the real estate issues and the dispute with your landlord are resolved sooner than later. You are welcome, and thank you for your kind words. As far as the temperatures here, they are not as hot as they were at the end of June, but the wildfires smoke as a result of the current, long-term drought is in heavily in the air today!

anita