It's just that there's nothing I can do to undo it, and my wife will be angry for I don't know how long, and I have to get other things done knowing I've made this huge mistake and could make more huge mistakes. I have a very hard time dealing with failures. Little mistakes I can get by, but bigger mistakes make things blow up and I can't afford to make them.

It's just that there's nothing I can do to undo it

Yeah, but you fixed it. It's paid and the water is on.

my wife will be angry for I don't know how long

That does sound like a problem, but, in my opinion, having more than a "What? SHIT!!! What the HELL?" in the moment seems like an overreaction (see above, re: bill is paid and the water is now on, so continuing anger is pointless).

But I understand that you have to live with the reality of how your wife chooses to react, and that sucks if it's an ongoing anger.

bigger mistakes make things blow up

But this didn't make anything blow up (I know you mean that metaphorically, not literally). The bill is paid and the water is back on.

I just don't think you're in danger of burning down the house, harming anyone, or blowing the family savings on a sportscar. And I'm not saying that to make light of missing the water bill; I'm saying it because I just don't think there are too many mistakes that have catastrophic consequences, and you are not at all likely to make the ones that exist.

Casper reports from 7th grade that everyone was so sad about Snape today.

Apologies for not coming in sooner to spill. I've been laid up with a nasty cold the last few days, and so I slept in quite a bit today, and then had to run around taking care of some errands. And now I think it's back to bed.

But first...

Yeah, so I got married back on January 1st, out in Denver. Colorado allows you to self-officiate, so we did. Because of the divorce from the father of her child, she is stuck in Denver for the time being. But it looks like I'll be moving to Denver later this year.

We're hopeful that, as her daughter gets older, and gets more of a say in who she stays with, we can move back to LA (I do miss my city).

could make more huge mistakes.

Oh, god, yes, the sudden questioning. "If I could screw this up, am I really doing all this other stuff right? Did I mess it up while I was so proud of myself for getting it done?" This leads me to much staring at text, wondering if what I'm seeing is really correct or if I'm just hallucinating that the words/figures are right.

And the horror of the spousal upset. I know that, too. Hubby was not an easy man in some situations. He always seemed so shocked when I made a mistake, like his own worldview depended on me being infallible. Bizarrely appealing, but no way for two grown-ups to function.

Timelies all!

Congrats, Sean!

Congrats, Sean!

Gud, see what Steph said. Relatedly, I think it's kind of horrifying that they would turn the water off for a bill that's (at most) one month late. Water is kind of important!

Congrats, Sean! You two look so darn happy.

my wife will be angry for I don't know how long

Really, it sounds like your wife's making way too much of a relatively minor mistake. But I feel for you, Gud. My ex would torture me verbally for days over every mistake, use every lapse as proof that I was incompetent and possibly even insane. It took me years after I left him to trust myself to be a competent adult. Discovering autopay helped too. Still does. Because I'm a competent adult who can't remember shit. I'm sorry you have to put up with this.

Congrats Sean!

I managed to screw up my auto pay water bill, because I didn't remember to switch it from the old out of date credit card to the new one. They didn't turn off the water though--all it cost me was a small fine and a lot of embarrassment.