for better or for worse

I don't really know what to say about the final.

I think you can all guess how I feel: happy, yes, that my Azzuri won, but unhappy that they won on penalties; and, although I wasn't rooting for France, sad that Zizou ended his career in that way. Terrible.

Sal said to me, "What are we going to do now that it's all over?"
Me: "I dunno... work, maybe?"

Anna asked how it felt; she pointed out that while I love footie, it does make me tense. (Seriously, there's a line of knots in my shoulders.) She suggested, "Maybe this is like that sad/sweet kind of relief you feel when you get out of a stormy relationship with someone you love madly, but who you just know is not quite right for you and therefore gets you all wound up??"

It is like that; but no matter how relieved I am, how grateful I am to have the time to work worry-free, the fact of the matter is, I will always go back. Yeah, there are days when I'm furious, when I don't understand why I stay, where I slam doors and threaten to leave forever; but the charm and the beauty always overwhelm me, and, come Sept 2, I'll be watching England's first qualifying match for Euro 2008. Rooney won't be playing, Becks won't be captain, and everything will be a little tense round our house for a bit, but, I keep my vows: I'll be watching.