"Anal retentive! That's what you are, George!"

  "Bull shit, Gladys! I can never get a word in edge wise, sideways, upside down or inside out. I've given up trying to participate in one of your one-way conversations!"

  "Can't you see that you're just making excuses for keeping your feelings all bottled up inside of you?"

  "Damn! Don't you ever shut up long enough to listen? It's always about you, your feelings, your issues with me, your issues with your parents, your issues with the whole friggin' world. Living with you is like living with a radio, broadcasting talk shows all day and the horrible thing is that there's no off switch!"

  "Every time that I attempt to get you to talk about your feelings, to share your inner self, you get ballistic and defensive. It's you who has issues, George. I have dealt with all mine. I go to therapy 3 days a week, my support groups 4 times a week and my aerobics classes every other day. I KNOW how to handle all the things that come up. You just sit there with your books or your paints and stay within yourself. You have to vent, George. You have to learn to let all that seething anger come out!"

  "For heaven's sake, Gladys, the only issue I have is your nagging me. You want me to have issues and pent up anger and angst! I love to read and my painting gives me great inner peace. I don't want to spend my life rehashing events that are over and done with. You ought to try letting go of your victimhood, stop being a survivor and start living!"

  "George! How dare you imply that I am holding on to being a victim?"

  "Hello! You have been in the same support groups for 3 years. You go four nights a week. Tell me, Gladys, do you all sit around talking about how to move forward in life or do you all whine and cry about a past that cannot be changed?"

  "It helps to talk about our fears and get them out in the open."

  "Just tell me one thing. When is the last time someone left the support group because they didn't need support any more? It's all the same faces, with the same issues, crying the same tears and all stuck in a rut of self pity that everyone else supports! How the hell does that help anyone?"

  "Kevin, our Tuesday Support Group Leader, said that we'd get resistance at home. He said that people in denial would try to put us down and mock our efforts at self improvement. See, he's right!"

  "Lord almighty! The only person who would lose in this situation is the Kenny's of the world who make money off of all you suckers! If you all left those groups and started moving forward and living life without your noses stuck in the past, Kenny would have to go out in the real world and get a real job."

  "Money? You think it's about money with our leaders?"

  "Now you are starting to see the whole picture."

  "Oh, I'll tell you what I see, George. I see a man who chooses to go through life numb."

  "Puleeze! Living a life filled with personal serenity and being at peace with myself is numb? God, Gladys, if that's the case, sure! I'll go through life numb rather than spending all my time trying to rip open scars, invent crisis's and spend my time venting over things that even the devil has thrown them out in the forgotten file!"

  "Quite a philosophy that you've developed in all your years of living in the state of denial, huh, George? You're afraid to face your demons. You're lacking courage to face your own fears."

  "Really? Well, I would rather look at the beauty of the world and the potential  that each moment holds to realize happiness. I don't want to go through my life dancing with demons or drudging up fears or over freaking analyzing every word or facial expression. When is the last time that you noticed a sunset or smelled the fragrance of a spring flower? When did you forget how wonderful being in love with each other used to be? We used to be so happy, Gladys, with the simplest of things. Now, life together is fighting, arguing, finding excuses to push each other away. I can't do this any more. You are sucking the life from the very marrow of my soul."

  "Sucking the life from YOUR soul? How do you think I feel? I am trying to get things back on track with my life and ours and all you do is make fun of my efforts. Kenny told me that you'd do this. He said you weren't man enough for a woman of my dimensions. Go! Leave me, George. You with the rose colored glasses and the Pollyanna attitude! Some day you'll realize how unhappy you really are!"

  "The funny thing is, I was happy until you decided that living was a punishment, not a gift."

  "Useless! It's useless trying to reason with a man who cannot face reality!"

  "Very well, Gladys. I will leave. I will move my things to the cabin tomorrow. You never liked it there, but I have always loved the solitude of the place."

  "We could never have made it, George. You are too xenophobic for my taste."

  "Xenophobic, am I? I'll take that as a compliment coming from the queen of phobias."

  "You go, George and continue to live with your head in the sand."

  " Zoom, baby! I'm out the door. I know you'll never be lonely living with your demons, your fears, your phobias and your crisis junkies. But have you thought about what you'd do, if someday you are able to rip the shades of unhappiness from your eyes, and actually discover that life is full of wonderful things and happy moments?"