Thank you for sharing your story! I’m grateful. My I ask why you question leaving…?
Maybe he would have changed had I been patient enough. Maybe if I just had had dinner on the table at 6:00 PM sharp he wouldn’t have gotten so mad and stormed out of the house. Maybe if I just got all the laundry done by the time he got home, he wouldn’t be so mad about me folding it in front of the TV at night. (I used cloth diapers). Maybe I should have given him one more chance to go to counseling. (After he promised over and over again, said he was going, but never went, which I found out from the therapist). The list goes on.
missme22:
I have come to the conclusion that I (all of us) will make a change when we feel enough PAIN. It needs to feel better to leave… Than to stay. And in my opinion it is hard to keep focused on the pain when the behavior improves.
Yes, it does for a while, but then it comes back. I call it crazy-making.
missme22:
What I always find so fascinating are the people who can leave because their sex life isn’t good enough or the spouse is lazy or a leach (like mine). It is just not as easy for me as others… I am too forgiving. But thanks to all of you I’m realizing my constant forgiveness is dangerous. I’m losing myself in the process.
One day exh was screaming at me (never hit me, that would have made it easier to prove abuse) in front of my five year old, she said, “Daddy, please stop screaming at Mommy.” He shoved her out of the way and continued screaming at me. That was the final straw. I did not want my daughter to marry a someone like him because that’s the kind of behavior he exhibited as “normal.” I did not want my son to treat his wife that way because that’s the kind of behavior his dad modeled as normal.
Today my son is 24 and my daughter is 21. My son is a very kind, gentle person. He doesn’t scream or yell, because he said, “I don’t want to be miserable like Dad.”
My daughter doesn’t really date, she goes out with groups of friends. She studies hard. She is a beautiful, good looking girl and very smart. She could date any guy she wanted, but she is not interested in a relationship right now. (Sex, etc,.) She says she’ll date when she’s ready to get married!!!
Meantime, exh is on his third marriage after me. His wife is on her fourth marriage. ha ha She is just like him, according to my kids. Manipulative, self-absorbed. He finally met his match.
God bless you.
