I'm at DH's house. His sister and her new boyfriend are sitting in the sun room. DH and I are arguing. We always argue. This time it's about what it is always about. He wants to go with his friends, I want him to spend time with me.
He doesn't have a car. I'm not sure if it has been taken from him or if it is just in the shop but at the moment I am his ride and I'm not doing what he wants. He wants me to take him to a friend's house and I want him to stay here and "talk with me."
He grabs the house phone, this is before he has a cell phone, and heads for his bedroom to call a friend. I threaten him, I yell I scream and yet he locks the door so I can't get in. So I tell him I'm going to unplug the phone in the kitchen (it's a cordless). This is my standard protocol. Yell, scream and threaten. Anything I can to control the situation.
I turn around and head for the kitchen. I come around the island and just as I am reaching for the phone cord I hear footsteps behind me. He is yelling and running at me and the next thing I know I am airborne. I sail for a good 20 - 30 feet from the kitchen over the dinning area and land in the mud room next to the back door.
His sister and her boyfriend are stunned. I am in shock. He has never touched me before and now this. I don't know what to do. He retreats to his bedroom and I begin to cry. I'm just sitting there on the floor, pretty convinced that my tailbone is broken and not sure what the hell to do next.
Eventually, his sister and her boyfriend emerge from the sun room. They ask if I am ok and I weakly tell them yes and then I get up and head for my car. Like a dog with its tail between its legs I retreat. I'm not angry, I'm sad and embarrassed. I feel like I did something wrong.
Sunday, November 15, 1998
Saturday, November 7, 1998
Mother or Girlfriend?
We'll see if he can get a job. He had one, for three weeks, which he quit/got fired from. So, he's been one week without and he better get one soon or I will not be happy.
Wednesday, October 21, 1998
Temper, Temper
By October of 1998 I was already doing everything I could to avoid DH's temper. I wrote in my journal that:
I'm so afraid to bring it up though. I'm not ready to fight with him again. A lot of things scare me. We need to talk so badly, but it scares me. I hate his temper and it seems I'll do anything to stay away from it.
From this point forward my life became about walking on egg shells and the HUGE arguments that ensued when I just couldn't do it any more. Every time I would let things fester and then it would be one giant blow up. Right from the beginning I didn't want to make him mad, never realizing that not speaking up would make things much, much worse.
I'm so afraid to bring it up though. I'm not ready to fight with him again. A lot of things scare me. We need to talk so badly, but it scares me. I hate his temper and it seems I'll do anything to stay away from it.
From this point forward my life became about walking on egg shells and the HUGE arguments that ensued when I just couldn't do it any more. Every time I would let things fester and then it would be one giant blow up. Right from the beginning I didn't want to make him mad, never realizing that not speaking up would make things much, much worse.
Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Once a Cheater...
The second time DH cheated on me, that I know of, was in October of 1998. I don't remember a thing about this incident other than the fact that it is written in my journal. Looking back I find that the most depressing part. That this had become such old hat that it doesn't even warrant a memory in my brain.
So, once again, I will quote verbatim from the journal:
Well, my life has become confusing again. On the 10th DH broke up with me. On the 9th he cheated on me. So I guess on the 10th I broke up with him. Then on Sunday the 18th he called me and begged my forgiveness. Then, I went to see him (which I probably shouldn't have) and now I haven't talked to him since.
I told him I wasn't ready to take him back full time yet. That I had to gain a lot of trust in him and that I had to get the musical out of the way. So now I wonder if he's thinking, hey I got the best of both worlds. I have her and anyone else I want.
Which is NOT what I want at all. I want him to be faithful. He can't prove I can trust him if he can't do that. So now I don't know what to do. I love him but I no longer want to be treated like shit.
Saturday, September 12, 1998
The Wedding
I will never, as long as I live, forget the day of IDM's wedding. And in talking with him, he will never forget it either. As his bride was walking down the isle I was the only person in the church not looking at her. I was too busy looking at him. Hoping against all hope that he would change his mind, tell her he couldn't marry her and bolt for the back of the church.
He said he remembers me looking at him. He's supposed to be watching is new wife walk down the isle and there he is looking at me as I'm looking at him. He says I was giving him a death look, I think I was just signaling the end of life as he knew it.
I remember telling someone that it was the most loveless marriage I had ever been to. Their toasts at their reception were I always knew they'd get married. Nothing about how much they loved each other, nothing about how they were destined to be together.
She wanted to be married before the baby so the wedding was rushed and I just remember thinking that will never be my day. And ya know what, it wasn't. My wedding was fancy and overblown and took a year and a half to plan and while they are just as miserable as DH and I were they are still married and we are not.
So, I guess in a way, neither one of us seemed to have succeeded.
He said he remembers me looking at him. He's supposed to be watching is new wife walk down the isle and there he is looking at me as I'm looking at him. He says I was giving him a death look, I think I was just signaling the end of life as he knew it.
I remember telling someone that it was the most loveless marriage I had ever been to. Their toasts at their reception were I always knew they'd get married. Nothing about how much they loved each other, nothing about how they were destined to be together.
She wanted to be married before the baby so the wedding was rushed and I just remember thinking that will never be my day. And ya know what, it wasn't. My wedding was fancy and overblown and took a year and a half to plan and while they are just as miserable as DH and I were they are still married and we are not.
So, I guess in a way, neither one of us seemed to have succeeded.
Monday, August 17, 1998
Engagement
Sometime in the summer of 1998 my parents got a phone call I will NEVER forget. Someone called to tell them that IDM was engaged. I remember them telling me like it was no big deal. They had no idea that somewhere, in the back of my mind, I kept hoping he was my way out.
When they told me that my heart just SANK. I remember going to my room and crying and crying. I could not figure out why he would marry her if he had just been broken up with her a few months earlier. It was a few more months before I found out she was pregnant.
Part of me gave up the day I found out he was getting married. There was a part of me that just stopped fighting, stopped raging against what I hated in my relationship and just accepted that was my life and that was what it was always going to be.
18 years old and I felt like there would be no one else out there worth looking for so I gave up. Is it possible to go back in time and shake your former self??
When they told me that my heart just SANK. I remember going to my room and crying and crying. I could not figure out why he would marry her if he had just been broken up with her a few months earlier. It was a few more months before I found out she was pregnant.
Part of me gave up the day I found out he was getting married. There was a part of me that just stopped fighting, stopped raging against what I hated in my relationship and just accepted that was my life and that was what it was always going to be.
18 years old and I felt like there would be no one else out there worth looking for so I gave up. Is it possible to go back in time and shake your former self??
Saturday, August 15, 1998
25th Anniversary Party
My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on August 4, 1998 and in honor of that they decided to renew their vows and have a very large party. The date of that party was August 15, 1998. DH came to the party and about an hour into the party he told me that he had a movie that he had to return to the movie story.
His excuse was that his mom would be mad if they had a late fee and so he had to drive the movie back but he would be quick and be back right away. An hour later he was still not back and I was in my parents office trying to call him. Over and over and over trying to call his parents house and other numbers I had for him.
He didn't have a cell phone at the time so I was just trying to call anyone I thought of where he might have stopped. Two hours later he finally called me from a pay phone. He had been pulled over for speeding and he had gotten a ticket for no insurance along with the speeding ticket and just for good measure they had towed his car.
I spent two hours of my parents party in the office next to the phone and another hour gone because I had to be the one to leave the party and go get him.
I'm thinking the late movie fee would have been cheaper.....
His excuse was that his mom would be mad if they had a late fee and so he had to drive the movie back but he would be quick and be back right away. An hour later he was still not back and I was in my parents office trying to call him. Over and over and over trying to call his parents house and other numbers I had for him.
He didn't have a cell phone at the time so I was just trying to call anyone I thought of where he might have stopped. Two hours later he finally called me from a pay phone. He had been pulled over for speeding and he had gotten a ticket for no insurance along with the speeding ticket and just for good measure they had towed his car.
I spent two hours of my parents party in the office next to the phone and another hour gone because I had to be the one to leave the party and go get him.
I'm thinking the late movie fee would have been cheaper.....
Sunday, May 31, 1998
Graduation
When I graduated from High School DH showed up at my graduation party with a gift. Never in our year and a half relationship had he purchased me a gift without me knowing about it and so I was a little surprised. I can still remember where I was standing when I opened it, with him and his mom looking on.
It was a ring. A blue topaz, in the shape of a heart with two diamonds on the side. It is his birthstone. It was supposed to signify how much his heart would be with me when I went away to college.
I can still feel the sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach when I opened it. I did not know it was possible to love and hate something so much all at the same time. I was excited that he had gotten me a surprise. Loved that it was a ring, I was into rings, I had one on each finger but I HATED the fact that it made me feel like I owed him something.
Now he had given me this beautiful ring I couldn't just break up with him when I went off to college. For me, it was always something. Always an excuse why I COULDN'T leave, even though I REALLY wanted to.
To make matters worse Impossible Dream Man (IDM) showed up at my party. Him and I had ALWAYS joked that he was going to come back for me when I turned 18 but I never... EVER believed that it was true. Yet there he was, I had turned 18 just a few weeks prior and there he was at my party.
He pulled me aside and told me that him and his girlfriend had broken up and my stomach just sank further. Inside, at my party, was DH and his mom and on my hand was this ring he had just given to me, yet standing in front of me was the man I really wanted to be with.
To this day I STILL kick myself for picking the way I did. I don't know if IDM and I would have ever even gone on one date. I don't know if we did if we would have liked each other. But I REALLY.... REALLY wish I would have given the ring back to DH and given it a shot. Now, I will never know.
It was a ring. A blue topaz, in the shape of a heart with two diamonds on the side. It is his birthstone. It was supposed to signify how much his heart would be with me when I went away to college.
I can still feel the sinking feeling in the bottom of my stomach when I opened it. I did not know it was possible to love and hate something so much all at the same time. I was excited that he had gotten me a surprise. Loved that it was a ring, I was into rings, I had one on each finger but I HATED the fact that it made me feel like I owed him something.
Now he had given me this beautiful ring I couldn't just break up with him when I went off to college. For me, it was always something. Always an excuse why I COULDN'T leave, even though I REALLY wanted to.
To make matters worse Impossible Dream Man (IDM) showed up at my party. Him and I had ALWAYS joked that he was going to come back for me when I turned 18 but I never... EVER believed that it was true. Yet there he was, I had turned 18 just a few weeks prior and there he was at my party.
He pulled me aside and told me that him and his girlfriend had broken up and my stomach just sank further. Inside, at my party, was DH and his mom and on my hand was this ring he had just given to me, yet standing in front of me was the man I really wanted to be with.
To this day I STILL kick myself for picking the way I did. I don't know if IDM and I would have ever even gone on one date. I don't know if we did if we would have liked each other. But I REALLY.... REALLY wish I would have given the ring back to DH and given it a shot. Now, I will never know.
Monday, May 11, 1998
05/11/98
Well, I'm still here, still with DH. Although I'm beginning to want out. I love him more than anything else in the world but what I want from him I'm afraid he can never give me. And every day it becomes harder and harder to leave but sometimes I want more.
He doesn't think pot is bad. He's a kid and I don't know if he'll ever realize that. He hasn't done it for a week but he says after high school he may go back to it. I don't think I can do that. If it's this hard to get out now, how hard will ti be later.
I love him, that I know but i hurt because of him. I wish there was no such thing as drugs and alcohol. I wish I never had to deal with this. Sometimes I wish I was dead. That way that hurting would stop.
What I want from him is forever; a clean forever. What will I get? Maybe a month. Tow or three more and I have to get out. Living like this is killing me. I want him, but I WANT HIM CLEAN!!
***************
I'm not even sure if I can express to you how much it hurts me to read these words. To know what my life became and to know that it took 11 more years of this and much, much worse for me to finally walk away.
11 years of my life and I will never know why. Why did I stay?
He doesn't think pot is bad. He's a kid and I don't know if he'll ever realize that. He hasn't done it for a week but he says after high school he may go back to it. I don't think I can do that. If it's this hard to get out now, how hard will ti be later.
I love him, that I know but i hurt because of him. I wish there was no such thing as drugs and alcohol. I wish I never had to deal with this. Sometimes I wish I was dead. That way that hurting would stop.
What I want from him is forever; a clean forever. What will I get? Maybe a month. Tow or three more and I have to get out. Living like this is killing me. I want him, but I WANT HIM CLEAN!!
***************
I'm not even sure if I can express to you how much it hurts me to read these words. To know what my life became and to know that it took 11 more years of this and much, much worse for me to finally walk away.
11 years of my life and I will never know why. Why did I stay?
Tuesday, March 31, 1998
03/31/98
**I'm pulling this verbatim from my journal. I'm not sure how I can paraphrase it or make it sound any better than it was already written to be.**
Well it's been about four months since I last wrote anything. Four months of pure hell might I add. Yes, DH and I are still together. However he's not clean. Then why am I still with him? I ask myself that once a day, really I do.
But I love him, more than anything else in the world. But there are so many times I just think, I want out, God help me. But then I see him or I talk to him and I fall in love all over again. Without him I don't feel whole, but with him I often feel empty.
Right now I don't think he's talking to me because of the latest pot incident. I just wish so much he'd get his act together and at least stop lying to me. I love him, and nothing he can say or do, besides cheating on me, will make me love him any less.
Who knows, maybe that's the wrong attitude to have. Maybe I should just do what MIL says and drop him and find myself. But I don't want to. I want to love him, I do love him. And so life stays complicated, at least for now.
************************
If only I could go back. If only I could leave the journal where my mother could find it or someone... ANYONE who could shake that 17 year old me and tell me over and over that I am worth SO much more than that.
Somewhere, somehow I convinced myself that love was all that mattered. If I loved him then I HAD to stay with him. Oh how I wish I could take that back now....
Well it's been about four months since I last wrote anything. Four months of pure hell might I add. Yes, DH and I are still together. However he's not clean. Then why am I still with him? I ask myself that once a day, really I do.
But I love him, more than anything else in the world. But there are so many times I just think, I want out, God help me. But then I see him or I talk to him and I fall in love all over again. Without him I don't feel whole, but with him I often feel empty.
Right now I don't think he's talking to me because of the latest pot incident. I just wish so much he'd get his act together and at least stop lying to me. I love him, and nothing he can say or do, besides cheating on me, will make me love him any less.
Who knows, maybe that's the wrong attitude to have. Maybe I should just do what MIL says and drop him and find myself. But I don't want to. I want to love him, I do love him. And so life stays complicated, at least for now.
************************
If only I could go back. If only I could leave the journal where my mother could find it or someone... ANYONE who could shake that 17 year old me and tell me over and over that I am worth SO much more than that.
Somewhere, somehow I convinced myself that love was all that mattered. If I loved him then I HAD to stay with him. Oh how I wish I could take that back now....
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