I’ve been shirking my responsibilities. I’m supposed to be charting my feelings at least four times a day. Groan. The assignment is from our counselor and is designed to help my husband monitor his feelings. I feel like being a brat. At some point, soon, I’ll get over myself and do the assignment. Until then I’ll keep doing what I do; work through the feelings.
Reactions to the separation have ranged from disbelief to down right angry. No this wasn’t from our kids. They are upset, I’d be worried if they weren’t, but not hostile. We raised good people.
The reaction of one person, in particular, threw me. I’ve thought of this person as a close friend. I’ve know her since shortly after we moved here. She was privy to more information than anyone else and yet she was angry when I left. WTF?
How could I do this to my husband? Excuse me? My husband doesn’t need a protector, thank you very much. It feels as if I’ve been tossed into the Victorian era. Home wrecker? Me? Oh save me the drama. She tried to make herself the good mother by saying my son (who’s 21) was eating at her house. My reaction? ‘Send the boy home.’ For goodness sake he’s a grown man, he can cook for himself. I know he can, I’ve witnessed it. dang
I’ve gotten judgement from acquaintances. That’s fine. They have no idea the depth of our estrangement and I’m not about to fill them in. From a close friend? That hurts. I’ve never asked her to side with anyone. She’s friends with my husband as well, but this I didn’t see coming. She feels protective of him? Me thinks she should live with him for a while and then reassess her position.
Seriously she said she feels protective of him. Blank stare. Protective of the abuser, you’ve got to be kidding me. We haven’t spoken since last week and unless she calls we won’t be speaking anytime soon. There is only so far I’m willing to be pushed. To be look down at for trying to make things better isn’t a line I’m willing to cross. Apparently our friendship has reached the limits of its capacity.
I’ve been here before (not often thankfully). Someone I thought was a friend, only to discover there were underlying fractures which made the relationship impossible. It hurts like hell every time. For it to be the person I’ve trusted with my inner–most–self makes it all the harder. I simply cannot wrap my head around abandoning a friend because I disagree with them. It confounds me. Were I engaging in self-destructive behavior, I could understand. It sucks rocks to watch someone you care about beat themselves up in life when it is unnecessary.
My situation is quite the opposite, from my point of view. To say I’m confused would be an understatement. Persons who don’t know me or the situation anywhere as well as she does have given me strong support. Given she’s the odd one out, I’m forced to conclude she’s alone in her views.
I’m not overly happy with being out of the house. And yet, I can’t make myself regret my decision. If nothing else, I feel better, safer.
Life is too short to live waiting for other people to change.
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