Tag Archives: Changes

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Empathy

I get so angry all of the time and want to play the bullshit card, but I need to work on my perspective taking.  This week was more informal than last and this one started with fantastic lovemaking and tender exchanges.  It just fades away by week’s end and drives me fucking crazy.  I want to say, “Then why did you call me and ask me if we could just be light and easy until after Memorial Day when we get to go away kid-free and afterward make some decisions?”  Light and easy to you translates into infrequent contact and really being put in a friends’ queue.  I honestly think because she thinks that she is the best friend in the world that I will want that at some point.

Redefine as friends is the ultimate bullshit anyway, is it not?  You didn’t work as partners so you’ll work as friends?  That analogy is poor.  Very poor.  Especially when one is admittedly judgmental and is the queen of unsolicited advice.  I listen to it now, because I would prefer to go to counseling and then take the plunge to live together.  If we had our “friends hats” on and she started in about my parenting, I would say, “Hey, I didn’t ask, so I really don’t want any unsolicited advice.”  She’d be smoking pissed at me, but my BFFs seem to think my son is not too bad, and that I do the best that I can.

That being said, I do know that there is a world of difference when your son has never had to share your affections and is with you and a love interest.  I was with the drunk for 11-months before I even introduced her to my son, and he had a colossal meltdown on the sidewalk of a busy street in an overstimulated state when we transitioned from a city cultural event fair that he didn’t want to leave right in front of her.  She took it as kid behavior, which it is.  You know the kind that you witness when you are childless and go, “Wow,” and either think that the parent should not have taken the child out in public or you want to disappear into a sudden chasm in the floor or earth because of how embarrassed you feel for that parent.  It’s fantastic when it happens to you!  However, she was cool about it.

There is nothing cool about the way in which my current works with my son when he melts down.  And because he knows that I love her and sees us hold hands, he gets what a six-year-old should get, and that’s jealous.  When I do settle down with a partner, he will have to adjust.  I do get that.  However, I don’t need to hear how it’s that he is a mess.  He’s not.  He is fairly well-adjusted and listens to most adults.  He just doesn’t always listen to me, but we work on it, and with a soon-to-be psychologist as a parent, he will always probably have to “talk about” it.  Tee-hee.

So, she has lost a caregiver.  I’m sure that it’s painful.  I have had lots of losses, but not that one yet.  I have also had a bizarre loss right before I started high school, so I’m different when it comes to grief.  Sublimation has made me very good at children’s grief work too.

She has the weirdest job in the world.  It does pay.  I will never make what she does.  But, the levels of stress are unreal and because of the nature of the work, she honestly cannot talk about it at all.

She has a tiny child.  Although he can walk and has begun talking, he is little and not regulated with his patterns.  I remember that, and honestly never would have dated seriously when my son was that age.  He was about 6-months older than hers is now when I had a coming out affair, but, I knew it would not be serious.  She is looking for a co-parent, but because of the last two paragraphs, that is a tricky business.

I do feel better after venting.  She pisses me off and I don’t do casual.  It will be interesting to see how family time is tomorrow.  I want a time warp to October, dammit.

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Little less rough around the edges

A friend who I shared a mental health office for a year-and-a-half told me once, “You are really loving although you are rough around the edges,” and my ex-husband said, “She’d be cool if she could tone it down a little.”  So, I just hung up with her, and I get what those two statements mean.  Maybe her purpose in my life has been to see how I really do come off and what I can do to soften even more.  She can really be tough.  It’s amazing to me that two weeks ago a friend had dinner at my house and said, “I can really see how you have changed and are much less direct.”  Again, after you date and spend many nights alone for five-years, you tend to see what you’re like.  You have to evolve.

A major difference between she and I is that if I’m meant to walk this earth alone, I don’t mind at all.  I sometimes feel that I’m trapped in the body of a 17-year-old boy in terms of my libido, but that can be remedied like I did in the summer of 2009.  I could do that.  Please know that my preference is to find a partner, but if I don’t, I will be just fine.  I always am fine.  I don’t really need anyone with the exception of my son.  I used to have stronger social needs too, and those have subsided as well.  If I have adult conversation over dinner once or twice a week, I am totally fine. Mainly because I spent the first at least five-months, if not a full year, of 2008 totally crazy, but I did get good at the solo gig.  I’m very good at it, and the derivative is that I won’t co-habitate until nuts and bolts are mostly tightened.  I don’t want bullshit day-to-day without groundrules.  Time-outs are also critical.

I do need to say that she really needs a good lay right now.  She’s pretty transparent.  I’m at home pretty sick currently so we spoke when I was heading back home from dropping my son at school and she was being kinda bitchy.  I think that both of us feel that when we do have intimacy that we tend to wanting more.  It’s only been three days, but we’d be ready and it is tender and passionate.  It was funny that on Saturday night it didn’t have that make-up sex quality.  It was intense, but loving.  We just need to take some time.  The one thing that I won’t bend on is the whole couples counseling thing.  I will walk if that is not honored.  I will ask at the end of next month or the beginning of June.  I hope that she consents.  If she doesn’t, I have to stop our sexual relationship and go back to the dating pool.

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Things we do

I have to admit, and it’s NOT easy.  I can’t give up our intimate life.  So, I told her let’s do the FB thing.  I think that she was offended.  But, I was totally serious.  Because she has hurt me so much and with great frequency this year and she mostly says that she’s just irritable because of her loss, I have really hardened my heart.  I love her, but the whole in love thing has layers of caution surrounding it.

I did the “let’s just see when we can feasibly be friends” on Friday night and then she called on Saturday.  She was furious with me because I’m doing well, and I am.  Namely because I’m out of the doldrums.  That place is not a good one for me to be in, and just saying it and explaining that waiting around for a break-up is not what I’m able to do anymore with what I’ve got going on in my life, willed her angered beyond belief.  In fact, she said, “I look forward to the time that we can be friends.  Bye.”  And I said bye and left for my son’s soccer game.  She called me about 20-minutes later and asked if I got her message that she had left for me on my home phone and told her that I was heading to soccer.  She said that she wanted me in her life, that I didn’t have to listen to the message, but she doesn’t want a break and wants our friendship to be always.

After soccer that changed to flirtation, which does, get me hot.  I’m telling you, making love to her is not like anything.  I mean it too.  So, I told her, “When you want to add me to the mix, consider me for an FB.”  She said, “When you get tired of mediocre sex with other women, you let me know.”  Then when we texted and confirmed, she said that she’d tell me where she was at when we were together.  My picture is not in her bedroom anymore, and frankly the two of her and her son are not in mine in addition to some other things she has given me, but Dear God, what great sex.  Wow.

So, she said, “Let’s leave it at light, but remember that I’m in love with you.”  So, I’m not in summer swing of things, but I don’t have to loose the best intimate connection that I’ve ever had.  I’m glad.  I told her on the phone that we don’t have to define it.  If she does start pinning me down on that–likely after Memorial Day or in June–I’ll say that NOT without counseling.  Our relationship has gotten really fucked up regardless of the reason.  If we continue this summer, we’ll need professional guidance.

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Fade Out

Ah, this request is familiar…  Trade-in aka two-for-one that makes me feel like the blue light special.  Meet me halfway somewhere?  Fuck that.  I was the idiot who went against what I said that I would be doing and that was not make any plans with her, so I’m getting what I deserve.  I should have held to it too.  We probably won’t see each other for quite awhile.  That’s just as well too because time will be healing for me.  I sure as hell don’t want to drive all the way up there on Tuesday either.  So, I’m not.  I will say what comes natural when we talk next and I won’t call.  In fact, I won’t do much of anything.  We will fade away.

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Stairsteps

I’m nearly positive that she wants it to be over.  We had a terrible conversation yesterday.  We have our face-to-face on Friday night.  She still flies off the handle and gets really stern and short.  And, honestly, that she doesn’t think that she does the back and forth is truly bizarre to me, but I guess that there’s two sides to every story.  When I listen to her talk about her ex-partner (She has had two.), I can hear that break-up / make-up in it too.  However, I can’t do that.  I think and observe, and when it’s over, it’s over for me.  And I’m pretty sure that’s where I am too.

I know that I’ve written what I want.  What I don’t want is someone who can’t take me positively and from the point of what she wants.  Remember that line in “Beautiful Girls,” when the heroine from “Goonies” who is no longer a teenager says, “One makes a decision based on what one wants, not what one doesn’t want.”  I would stay with her if we could meet half-way twice a month and do couples counseling.  That’s it.  Otherwise, I don’t think that we are doing well enough to stay together.

Yesterday, I wanted to make love to her.  It sucked.  Physically, she is really consuming.  The thing is that when you have two or maybe even three kids in the house, that stuff becomes less frequent, because you’re really tired.  So, if you have that classic Avoidance-Attack pattern in the mix too, you would probably never have sex again.  So, we can choose at the six-month mark to work through our large problems with someone who we pay or we can bounce.

I’m at that point where the push and pull for me is more part and parcel of my grief.  I’m reasonably sure that we can’t do anything about our problems without getting an outside perspective.  I just miss her a ton and remember all the good that we had the first three-months that we were together, and I think that if she was more solid about me, we’d have more.

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Day 2

Well, last night she texted.  She told me that I was being sterile and basically forcing her into my definition of “space.”  I don’t know what else taking space and time is.  But, I did text back and told her how sad and furious I was.  Then, this morning, we actually spoke, and I read her my e-mail.  She was quiet.  She always is when I express tons of emotion and when I ask her what her reaction is she always says the same thing, “I’m listening.  I do that a lot.”  The implication is that I don’t.

So, I did leave her a VM tonight which is unacknowledged right now wishing her and her son goodnight and good sleep.  My own son is not here again and my house feels so empty.  My nanny had a conflict and I don’t have two anymore and I can’t take tomorrow off because it is required day to get paid.  My father can take him in tomorrow for me and I’m grateful to have their help.  My Mom will make him a proper breakfast that I never have time to do because I have to be in my office by 7.  Honestly, it will be good when next week comes and I have a full week of work and some space of my own back into my typical routine.

I think it’s just the assumptions that have made me so pissed.  She says that she just wants me to tell her things without asking questions, but usually what it amounts to is that she tells me how I am.  I am fairly open.  Not completely open, but it is a derivative of trusting her so fully and then having to pick of the pieces of my heart in Jan and Feb.  March helped me sort it all out myself.  I’m sorted.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still in love with her, but I don’t want all these conclusions about me to be drawn without simply first asking me how I feel or why I reacted the way that I did.  She thinks that she is the expert on everyone who she knows and that just isolates people.

It is interesting to me that after I told her that my e-mail was full of rage and I read it to her that my anger mostly subsided.  Then after my own real therapy session (Meaning one that I pay for.) was over, I felt pretty good.  I still miss the way that she smells and feels and our intimacy.  I don’t miss her assumptions and the way that I feel like she sees me.  Also, I am not sure that although she doesn’t want to be alone (She admitted this to me today.) that anyone will ever meet her standards or simply be good enough for her.

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Day 1

Won’t it be funny and a good therapeutic exercise to post days after being newly single?  I think so.  So, after the shitty convo I left three messages (not psycho dialing), but with HeyTell, and that’s all that I wrote.  I’m good.  I got a love letter last night.  I was at the Club.  I had a good time with my friends too.  I’m not going to respond.  Actually, I did already and some of it was really sarcastic.  I just didn’t send it.  I’m not impulsive.  I’m not going to send it either.  She and her best friend have a “pet theory” about me.  Just goes to show that when she fills in the gaps and is the expert on me that she doesn’t know anything.  Here is something that I wrote in the e-mail that I didn’t send.  I like it.

“You seem to have me all figured out.  It’s not a charitable view of me either.  I don’t approach you like this, and I’m looking for a woman who takes me for what I am.

All your love?  WTF does that mean?  If this is how you talk about your loved ones, then I really don’t get it.  I just don’t.  I’m not sure what our future holds.”

I guess that I’m in the Anger stage of grief right now.  It’s because she can be cruel.  Tori Amos says, “Don’t give me respect.  Don’t give me a piece of your preciousness.”  And it’s not.  Her terms of endearment are for everyone and she says, “I love you,” to people that she freely talks shit about.  It’s like my local BFF told me once, “Don’t ever assume that people are any different with you as they are with others you see them with.”  Got it.

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Done and done

Bad to do it via phone, but as I have had a break up text a couple of days shy of three months ago, and an awful weekend exchange that lead to semi-hiatus at the beginning of February, this worked for me.  I can’t.  Just can’t.  It’s like there is this approach to me as if I have all these weaknesses and drawbacks that makes it awful to be around me, and that is not partner connection.  There is overt and covert aggression too.  I can’t navigate her moods and don’t want a friendship right now either.  I’m just going to fade.  We may have just been a six-month thing.  It is too bad that the first three-months were so good.  They were.

But, she doesn’t do holidays well at all or does she seem to stay connected with me through tough times.  I don’t want that.  I’m glad that I see my psychologist on Monday.  I want to tie this up as neatly as I am able.  It is definitely good to be able to reflect and move on.  In particular, it is good when I have as much free time as I do coming up in two months.  Back to the drawing board and getting closer to finding what I really want.  I think that I learn more each time that I date and what works for me.  This particular instance could be attributable to bad timing, but I think that I still like a softer sort of approach to everything in life.

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Learning to listen

So, maybe I don’t listen fully.  I think that I have been rendered so much on the defensive–honestly, it’s like warding off blows–that I’m probably just talking to deflect.  I know that I’m not a bully though.  That is complete shit.

I have this book on keys to a strong and loving marriage, and I think that I do a lot of the things in it that are good, but I obviously don’t listen enough to her.  That seems to be her strongest complaint.  That I’m selfish and don’t listen or do I respond to her needs is what she says when she is telling me why she is not sure that she wants to invest any time in it.  There are these A’s that you can follow when you have a chronically angry partner.  They are to agree, apologize, and then add.  So, it would look like this I think, “I can follow through on making sure that I have tied up loose ends that I promised this weekend.  I’m sorry that I didn’t make it a priority.  I felt like I would get around to it, but things were so shaky in January and February that I went remote.”

I think that it’s hard to listen well all the time.  However, I do want to give this a fair shot over the next two months.  I do love her.  I don’t know if we can or if she would even like to do so.  I can’t control her, but would like to see if we can rebuild our foundation and get back to what’s important, which is simply loving each other.

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I think that I’m falling out of love

On the second of this year I texted, “You should not incessantly irritate your one.”  And it’s worse than that now, because she can’t really have a single day with me when she doesn’t say what will not work for her long-term.  I can’t really do this, because one, how do you know what works and doesn’t work for you with the exception of abuse or cheating until you have learned how each other works, and two, isn’t this stage supposed to be more romantic than hard, cold facts of non-negotiation?  I’m sorry, but at the six-month mark, you don’t really have enough under your belt to know, but she knows what won’t work.  Well, I really want to save her the spiel.

So, what will I do?  Tomorrow I will check in on her when she gets the rest of this medical procedure done.  I drove her to part one tonight as an emergency basis.  Honestly, I want to say something sarcastic about that fact, but I won’t.  I’ll just say that is what a girlfriend should do for you.  You should be with her when that happens and not rely on your neighbor.  Your neighbor will never be  your partner, and I’m seriously starting to wonder if she actually wants one.  Bitching at someone constantly and concentrating on a person’s shortcomings is just sick.  Look at the good, build from there, and talk about how you want communication to look.  Focusing on what you DON’T want just makes you feel negatively toward your significant.

I’m not making any plans with her.  I’ve said that before about other girls and that scares the shit out of me, actually.  The thing is that above all, I want to be valued.  I’m not here.  I don’t need her.  I’m looking for a partner.  I’ll miss her son, but I can’t take the complaints about me all the time and then the “I love you,” texts afterward.  That is too weird and not what I’m looking for.  She may be my one, but it is like that damn Ingrid Michaelson song, because “it’s one day in the future,” and does not seem to be now.  I’m honestly fine with that too.

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We shall see

So, I have a date tonight.  It will be great to actually see her because it’s been five-days.  My psychologist said that we are just in the basket of relationship, which can get scrunched, and we have to just show up each day.  Yesterday was not a very good day.  I was exhausted having worked 7 – 4:30 and then had to rush to get food and take my son to sports.  When we got home, we were just a few minutes from his bedtime, but he was hungry again.  I read to him and got him squared away and then was chilling, and listening to music.  She said a couple of things that were nasty.  I was just tired.  “Baby, you sound exhausted,” would have been easier for me to receive than a completely unfounded accusation and telling me had it been true that she’s dump me.

That is not a goodnight.

However, being naturally pragmatic, I am keeping my date tonight and seeing if we can also see each other on Sunday as well.  I need to tell her that was a poor message to have last before I did drift off to sleep.  However, I slept great, and did get up in time to workout and even lift a little bit this morning.  My goal that I want to start this week is developing my upper body.  I have definition, but overall I’m weak and when you consider how strong my legs are, that should be more even.  More…  Balanced.

I do not feel balanced in terms of my relationship right now.  Again, I had said that I would develop a mantra a couple of weeks ago, which now I see more as a broken record.  I would like her to be my future, but I don’t know where or when.  I know that she only wants one thing, but I’m hoping that we can just enjoy.  Honestly, if it gets really caustic like it has been, that is not enjoying.

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So?

What do I do now?  I kinda wish that I had been writing two falls ago when I knew that I had a shelf life with my ex, but the analogy is so poor because I only got caught up in wanting us to work for about three-months and then I spent an inordinately long time realizing that we never would and that really she just wanted to control me by having me far, far away from everything that I knew.  This situation is totally different, because not only am I completely in love and respect her, but she doesn’t want to control me, she just wants a life for herself and her son that is predictable and that she knows.  I get that, because I want to do that too.  I also know what my life is like where I live and now with it currently getting so much warmer, and I will soon be having some time off, it means that I can be outside within seconds.

I don’t like being in the car.  In fact, I hate it.  I used to live rural when I was in school and when I had rotations for school in other towns, I would put 600-miles on my car within a week and my back would be completely compressed all night.  It’s 90-miles a day just from her house to my building.  My current route is 16 total (roundtrip).  Anyone with kids will tell you that this amount of driving also takes you away from your kids that long too.  Unfair to my son who sees me within minutes when he needs me, and also puts a brand-new dynamic on our mother-son relationship.

I called one of my good friends who I see monthly for dinner at my house.  She gets along with my son so well too and is great with kids.  She popped over and had dinner with me and we all took a walk.  She told me that if I moved because she works really far south, she could see me three times a year meeting at a mid-point.  This example is just one of many, because my friends are very busy with their lives and children, etc., so it would take really concerted effort to get together.  I wouldn’t see some of the people who pull me out of my head at intervals and who I share meals with frequently.

Then, there is the matter of my parents and my son’s Dad not being able to do much with him without careful planning.  Blood matters.  It just does, and they should be able to get to him within 20-30 minutes.  It is really picking up my whole life and moving it; although, it’s the same state.

The main difference about this move and the one I considered for a second is that she already has a gig and people with whom she feels connected, and a entire outdoor routine up there.  I have built the latter for the cold months this year, and will continue to expand my repertoire for outdoor stuff where I am.  I get a bit down when it’s cold, and that is sad, because honestly, it is never really cold here.

When I was considering moving, I realized that I could not be outside as much as I liked where my ex lived.  That really didn’t matter much to her, because she was not healthy in general.  My ex did not have a circle of friends yet where she was and was willing to try another town so we could build something.  I’m not saying that I miss the drunk, I’m just saying that we could have built some new things together in a new location for us both.

I realized that she doesn’t give up anything at all if I move.  I give up a lot.  I also am giving up tons with a woman who really does have a laundry list of complaints about me; although, I do know that she is in love with me.  I’m looking for less rigidity and some celebration of me and what I offer.  I think that we will probably have to redefine and it may be soon.  I know that she told me to take the next 6-months so I can fall in love with where she lives, but honestly, in addition to liking how close everything is where I live and all of the opportunities that I have to expose my son to such as diversity, classes, and other learning opportunities without the commute, I also don’t want to be in my car 90-miles a day for half the year and miss my friends all the time.  It’s a recipe for later resentment for a woman who really doesn’t want to shake things up for herself.  She knows what she wants.  I feel like an add-on again, and I definitely felt that two-years ago.  I want a girl to choose me and build something that WE decide.

Honestly, I can’t really exit until it is inevitable, because I love our intimacy.  Obviously, I don’t have any band width to date because it’s like entering into something with a cheater.  I think of her all of the time.  I guess she was right to lead with us having an expiry date, and the aftermath of what our redefinition will look like is going to be painful.  I’m not anxious for it to start, honestly.

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What a difference a day makes

And a night.  Amen.  I want this venture to work.  I know that now that I’m older and certainly wiser that I’m ready to get married.  I want to build a whole life out of choices and experience mystery and that unfolding that only comes when someone ignites everything inside of you.  When she talks about things, I get hot.  When she looks into my eyes, I meet her gaze and feel heat rising to my face.  When she kisses me, it burns into me.

I have no idea why I told her…  Again, I’m sometimes like Homer Simpson, but I have burned out on kissing everyone.  There was this time period wherein I actually stopped kissing my ex, and then when she would kiss me, I’d stop.  We didn’t even enjoy each other when we were intimate and got sort of a business like approach to it when we did have sex.  Very odd.  There is nothing business-like with my girl.  She fucking slays me.

How does one keep it going?  How do you build trust and how does she know that you are really that boring?  You don’t do anything that is odd or not part of what you mean.  You just want only her and know that if she would let down her guard–not worry, never second-guess, and just take a total leap of faith that you’d do anything for her and her son?

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A little bit of flexibility

So, Friday we spent the night together and it was good to talk and connect.  We were both exhausted, and again, I think that as we are both mothers, Friday nights can be kinda like collapse time rather than anything hot and probably always will have that flavor if we decide to make the plunge.  If we do, I would hold firm that she and I pick something…  Together.  I don’t think that it’s equitable to move into somebody’s house where they have memories from previous stuff and I don’t think that either of us moving into the other’s house makes sense.  She has held firm that my area is NOT an option.  Although I do love it here, and have spent 30-years total in this city, I have some bad memories. I would be willing to move.  Not into anybody’s house.

Let’s go back to the drunk.  She wanted my son and I not only to move 6-states away, but she also wanted us to move into her parent’s house!  Not that they were there yet, but who the fuck wants to live in somebody else’s house?  How is that making dreams and decisions together?!?  And that’s what I’m looking for.  I’m looking for someone to make some decisions WITH me.

The town of compromise actually has some good schools in it too.  Ethnic and cultural diversity is important for me as well, and it’s a stone’s throw away from a great little city.  As long as we could financially make it make sense, I would be down for a move in about two-years.  I could easily give up my house and I would like it if we could make some new friends and connections together.  When you are this age, you don’t always fit into your partner’s friends circle easily.  I think that my friends in general are accepting and just glad that I’m in love for real with someone, and I’ll always see them.

So tonight is actually a date-date.  Which is good.  I need some intimacy and connection in that realm.  It’s odd that I put such a high premium on it, but I do.  With her, it’s so incredible too and has it’s own set of emotions that are tied to it.  You can honestly feel love expressed physically, and I thought that stuff was bullshit until now.  Truly.

Well, it’s not.  She is who I want to build a life with in the future.  I want us to raise our boys and have at least one more kid, but do that together.  Closely aligned with that is that I want us to do everything together, which includes working on the nuts and both conjointly of cohabitation.  I love her.

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I just don’t know

Pause, pause, pause.  I don’t think that I’ve done that badly. I think that most of my entries are about what an asshole I am.  I’m not that bad.  I drive in traffic and have exclusively since December and my schedule is tight, but I don’t think that makes me a bad person.  There are some things that you don’t want in a gf.  The reason that I know is because I have done A LOT of dating. I keep thinking that is probably a good thing for every woman to do.

I’m telling you if we don’t see each other this weekend that I will probably have a lot of trouble continuing.  I don’t feel particularly acknowledged for what I do, but I do know a laundry list of things that are my shortcomings.  That is super imbalanced for me and not the way in which I aspire to live my life.  I will give her this card and the personal present that I designed though no matter if I just drop it off or not.  I do love her.

She has TONS of complaints about me.  That’s actually intriguing to me, which is a little sick, I suppose.  I haven’t been with anyone who was bothered by anything about me less my intensity and abrasiveness.  It makes me think that some of my shortcomings are unique to our union and I always come back to how similar we are.  I have said this to my psychologist, and I will say it again, I think that her level of criticalness is much like how I used to be.  I’m just different now and much of it stems from being completely alone and dating.  I’m strong on my own too, so I don’t need to tell others anything about themselves.  What’s problematic for me is the lack of gratitude for the fact that I’m trying harder than I ever have and that it still doesn’t seem to be enough.  I won’t be enough.  I’m terribly imperfect and don’t apologize for it.  Everyone has drawbacks.

There are some things that I don’t think that she’d compromise on anyway.  My son and I don’t fit simply into the life that she has either.  It’s not really just my friends down here; although, they are my family, but it’s my lifestyle.  I have tons of schools to choose from and literally live on a bike trail.  I don’t have to use my car much in two months, and won’t except when I’m climbing in the summer after my son learns to ride.  I try to live greenly too and the commute kinda makes me feel badly–it’s a lot of gas and emissions.  We don’t live close together.

This is a completely new tone for me and it’s impersonal. I think it stems from some resentment from not being acknowledged and being told that I’m something that I’m not.  I follow a schedule and I think that all women in our age group do, so that’s not being self-involved.  I don’t want shit pinned on me.  Damn, I am hurt.  I’m not sure what I’ll decide this weekend.

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Need for me

I know that I need to write today, and I knew that before she left me her message.  She will begin a cycle of grief.  I think that is completely personal.  So, I’m going to write what I know right now.

I love her.  I want to build a life with her.  She is like no one.  She has the highest standards of anyone who I’ve ever met.  I’m not easily intimidated.  I’m so good on my own too, so we will see what our future holds as some more time passes.  I know that if she breaks up with me for good that I’ll be just fine and will keep on doing what I do.

I was a bizarre shell of a human being for a year and still exhibited some questionable behaviors afterward after I finally came out.  Why didn’t I come out sooner?  The funny thing is how big of a lesbian I am.  I would say that in terms of femininity, I am pretty middle-of-the-road, and certainly men look at me and the ballsy ones will approach me and hit on me, but it’s pretty rare that I have to come out to anyone.  The quintessential Tomboy, and very much into playing hard, laughing and being physical are part and parcel of who I am at my core.  When kids from high school found out that at 23 I had married, the common reply was, “______, is married?  To a man?”  I stayed in that marriage for nine years too, which was baffling given how little we had in common and our playmate role even had fallen away after about 5-years of knowing each other.  This fall I have known him 18-years.  He’s ok, but doesn’t have any goals so I sometimes I have trouble respecting his decisions.  I have not missed living with him for what will be five full years this fall.  That’s the thing, I’m loyal and want what’s best for others…  Historically…

We had started working through this relationship and couple’s text and some of the preliminary chapters combined with my blogging and my own therapy has lead me to know that part of me has fallen away.  I’m only still loyal.  Now, I want what is best for me and my son.  I broke up with my with ex because she was a drunk and a control freak.  I don’t think that she ever loved me.  The woman who I had my coming out affair with didn’t ever really love me either.  I know, too, that my ex-husband never loved me either, but was young and interested in propriety and doing right by his family.  I get that.  We have some similar values.

Now, I want what’s best for me and my son.  The stupid dating shit that I’ve done isn’t good for either of us, and yields my feeling empty.  I like how circumspect I have become based on my lessons yielded from dating hell.  I’m a lesbian version of a “Sex in the City” character, seriously.  I’m just not an empty sex afficionada, so I can’t be Shane.  Of course, I have had sex most months for two years, so that’s probably easier for me to say, but I would prefer not to have another FB.  Those kinds of unions do not yield a relationship.  Even if I try, those kind of girls that you start out just doing are not the ones who I want to settle down with because I’m pretty concrete.  If I get together with you because I want to have sex, that’s what I want.  If something organically develops, it still probably was based in lust and not in being compatible.  I’m looking for settling down with someone and growing together, or I’ll just have sex occasionally and do my thing.  I’m an independent and strong woman and won’t settle.  Not even a little.

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Ready for whatever my path unfolds

Who knows?  I don’t.  She is going through a horrible time.  Simply awful.  I can just show up for her and her son, and be who I am.  Even if that person is one who is defensive and wonders about how likely it is that I’m going to get some concrete or for sure stuff so that I can feel safe, or if I can continue on this path with a woman who is like no other.  I don’t know a person at all like her and I have tons of friends and work with the public.  She is unique and awe-inspiring.

I spent most of this weekend with her.  I’m tired, but feel pretty good on the whole.  I just wish that we had some time just with us, but with both of us being mothers, that will always be few and far between.  I think that I could have supported her more if we hadn’t been parenting her boy–who I simply adore–all weekend, but I think that at times of crisis, that kids are a very good distraction.  He is a sweet, funny, and a cheerful little guy.  They help.  I can remember playing with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars with my son when I was on autopilot for about 7-months when I had just come out and finally moved my heart and mind away from my coming out affair.  The latter is difficult.  I was really messed for some time.  Then with lots of dating, I really weeded out what I don’t want.

I don’t see drawbacks with her.  I do think that she is more sensitive than I, so I have to watch how I react and ensure that I’m doing what is asked, but I’m not sensitive, so we don’t always see situations the same.  Frankly, I’ve had enough relationship experience to know that she is hard to find.  She is sexy, an incredible dancer, smart, funny, quick, athletic, and has the best body and eyes that I’ve ever seen.  I want to be with her and build our life.  That does not waver.  She is the one who I can see being with for the long haul and raising our complete family.

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Finally

I can’t believe it is finally back to where it needs to be.  Of course there is never going to be an erasure, but at least she knows that she needs to work on some things.  I am continuing.  I’m here.  I’m in love with her and believe that she is my one, but I’ve come to the cold, hard fact that you may not be able to be with your one in some lifetimes.  I had a reading in 2008 and I’m supposed to be just starting to come into my own as of October of the year before last.  I certainly knew in that month that I was never going to move, so I do believe it.  This October I was on top of the world in love and sure that we would build a life together.  She changed after Thanksgiving.  I have not.

She said that she wants to have more fun with me and be in the moment.  There is no other place that we can be because of the infrequent times that we can actually see each other.  It’s rare.  We had a nice time after the kids got calmed down on Tuesday and her Mom was there too, and I will get a date on Sunday, which will be nice.  I’m very much looking forward to this extended weekend in general.

I can hear my tone.  I’m cautious, and I didn’t ever have any caution with her and now it’s here.  It can make me matter-of-fact, but maybe by my being aware of my trepidation, I can instead make space for it, and then I can just be me and that girl is fun and caring.  I can do that.  I probably need a mantra.  I continue to say what my therapist says and that’s “You can’t bend the river.”  I know that it flows and you don’t stop it.  I want to get back into fun and never be without passion.

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“Though I may be going down, I’ll take the flame over burning out”

Wow.  I have never, ever, had lovemaking anything like this or have I been completely looked through by a woman.  She knows where I am and it overwhelms me; although, she is more likely to accuse me of being “sappy,” when I get emotional, because what she wants is only immediacy, except when we are in the the throws of passion and she tells me that it better be her that it’s like this with and it sure as hell is!  I’m pretty sure that I’m going to get my heart broken.  Dashed, slammed, ripped out and served to no one in particular, because mine is hers when she didn’t even ask for it.

So, what will I get?  Dating for awhile until she completely breaks up with me and waiting for that noose whose hangman I tempted when I was sure that she was in love with another girl and completely enmeshed with another who still needed her although she has a new relationship with an unlikely character.  I was terrified of what I had done.  I had fallen in love with a woman who I didn’t even know.  I had made out with her and wanted so much more, as we shared dreams and visions.  We are so compatible.  I think that it’s time that I work through what she says is my ultimate untrustworthy act.  I’m going to, but I think it’s a safe place to go back to, because she can say that I did it all and did not include her in my thinking, which while true, she has told me since then that I’m her one, she wants me to be hers, and that we have it.  Until just before the holidays when she got re-triggered and now she ALWAYS goes back to an early fall exchange.  Ultimately, she gets triggered now, and then she references this dark place because she knows it and it’s safe in a way.  She can control the trajectory and say that it’s because of what I did.

Here goes.  Been waiting too long.  Have a microbrew and I need to do it now or I’ll chicken out again.

So I did it, and frankly it FREAKED me out.  The phrase is not in the exchanges.  It’s simply not there.  There is also an e-mail in which I explained that I didn’t withdraw, but rather was protecting my heart.  Then there are exchanges after that in which she concedes that I was just protecting myself and she is in that mode now too.  So, why would she go back there if it was sorted and I never really said it anyway?  Last night I was reeling in hurt and anger.  So, I went out and had some laughs.  I reread page, after page of e-mails, and was baffled before I went to bed late last night.

I’m sorry, but I slept on it–which I’m so proud that I did, but if we can’t put it to rest particularly when the phrases is not in the exchanges and then I explained where I was emotionally, which at that point was accepted, then I can’t do this right now.  I just can’t.  Yesterday when I left, I felt like my soul got ripped out when she said that we don’t have to have any heavy discussions or figure out forever.  Ouch.  Especially after the passionate exchanges.  Too much back and forth, and I can’t navigate it.  I could totally do this type of casual stuff with an FB, but I cannot do it with my one.  I’m going to listen to that Ingrid Michaelson song again.

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Perhaps it is karmic retribution

I had to laugh a bit, because I remember in a Simpson video game that I played before I had my son, in which Homer would scream, “Damn you Karmic retribution!”  I have to find some humor in this situation, which really could be derivative of all the vagary that my ex and I went through last spring that ultimately ended in the summer.  I would try to have the “you are not right for me and what I want,” convos but she would FREAK out on me.  She also had problems with alcohol abuse, so it made these types of ending discussions that much worse.  We had some trips planned, so we just saw them out.  I was done, but did fly one last time because I figured given I had spent a couple of years with her, so I owed her F2F for that final convo.  That was a scary few nights, but it is all good.

Things have been off for some time, but then we would have good times in between, so I’m wondering, and it begs the question really, is this what I did?  The main difference is with the exception of saying some things that have been hurtful on about four occasions, I have been very good to her.  My ex was a drunk and volatile and not good about keeping in touch with me.  There were many week periods that we didn’t even talk on the phone, and we were distance!  She was not the most conscientious.  I may be an asshole and somewhat insensitive at times, but I’m a nurturer to a fault and I’ve done lots of ground work for this relationship.  That’s the difference.

There are other parallels too.  I re-read the Dear John we have no foundation letter that I wrote to my ex in September of 2010.  I told her that because we started the way that we did, and she had no space between the other girl who she was always with while with me, prior to moving and then wanting to just go exclusive with me, that we really had no future.  My one tells me that when I sent the slow-it-down e-mail that I permanently hurt who we could be.  I get that.  Although, I never believed that my ex was my one, and in fact, I didn’t believe in a one UNTIL now.  With my ex, I do remember always thinking that we could never be serious because we were non-exclusive FBs who met in a bar.  Seriously.  That’s not a foundation.  So, if I screwed up our foundation, perhaps it is like the Justin Timberlake song.

My best friend said “Nothing is that simple. Especially karma.  Give her time and space.”  I will, but I can’t see her alone too much because I want to rip out my soul.  It kills me.  I want to take her into my arms, kiss her neck, and take off her clothes.  When someone is overwhelmed with everything that is the last thing that she wants.  So, I can hang and have family time, but I have to preserve me.

I think that this entry probably sounds whiny.  Or that I somehow expect my path to be easy and what I’m entitled to.  I don’t believe that deserve has much to do with it, but again, she is all I want and I can’t imagine anyone else touching me.

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Waiting

I knew it was inevitable, but I figured that I had until the end of March.  I have been completely off with regard to the timing of things.  I get what that means!  I have made some predictions based on patterns of behavior, but I have noted that people who I know or know through others have been accelerated in terms of decisions that are made or courses of action.  We live in this fast-paced world wherein everyone responds with fervor and tying things up as fast as they can.  Over the years, and in my last pseudo relationship, I learned that slowing down has its benefits as does delaying gratification and waiting to respond.  I can’t believe that I have actually learned that lesson and can apply it myself.  This epiphany is especially unbelievable when I watch my son.

He gets so pissed all the time when things don’t respond as quickly as he’d like them to, or when they take time to develop.  I know that I used to feel that way, but I just don’t now.  Five-years waiting for a true connection yields patience as does raising a kid like mine who is intense and lacks coping skills.  The latter, I never had.  I coped with things that I shouldn’t have and have done so amazing well.  But, I was never even remotely patient and just expected things to work.  Sometimes they don’t, and other times, they do with the passage of time.  You just don’t know and you have to trust, like my psychologist says, “That you can’t bend the river.”

What will I do?  Write a book.  Literally.  Done with coursework does not mean done with a doctoral degree.  I’ll also do what I’ve done for going on five-years, and that is be good to my parents and friends, and parent my son.

What will she do?  Probably tell me her perspective.  Think that she has mine figured out.  Miss the way that we connect on every level.  Maybe give me a chance.

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It’s actually hard

Want to know how you really are in love?  Because I’m trying desperately not to call and text because she wants me to slow down, and it is difficult.  I took down my old blog, but because it has so many entries and in my opinion illustrates my personal growth, I continue to reference it.  I used to be able to either walk away from a relationship or just wait to be contacted.  I can’t do that now.  It is agonizing and I also need her arms around me and to feel her kisses.  Here is how I felt in 2009:

“So, we have spoken…  And not texted, but we actually had a 45-minute convo on the phone, and with the exception of the end, it was really nice, and made me think that I probably should have called her some while we were f-buddies, but that was likely not meant to be.  The unsettling part of it to me was not that she and the other girl are now exclusive, because as I told her that was the natural order of things because she has known her nearly two years, and been sleeping with her for seven months, but it was rather her response.  She said, “Well, I won’t have to do this very long anyway because I want to start that new job (out-of-state) by November 1st.”  Ouch–made me glad that I wasn’t the one who is “exclusive” with her.” (me)

I didn’t talk to her after that.  She texted me on the last day of that year and texted her back.  It was a NYD reconnection, which was what I thought to be romantic at the time, but I was on to her by the end of January and went back to no contact unless contacted or just not saying anything.  I’m good at it.

I was.  I’m sure not now.  I want her.  I’m prepping for next year for my son and it feels so false.  We don’t talk too much about it either.  She started going upstairs yesterday when we spoke in the morning and said she’d call me back when I told her about the public school lottery.  We didn’t talk about it again yesterday and she is being causal with me right now.  It is so painful to 1) hear that, and 2) I know somewhere that it’s that she is scared of getting over-extended with me.

She needn’t.  I don’t know exactly what she sees that is scary in me, but I can tell you that I’m not.  I can even back up and be respectful when I’m told that I need to just wait and see.  Do you remember in the screenplay by John Irving and the film, of course, too, when the male character tells the super hot Cherlize Theron, “Maybe if I just wait and see long enough, I won’t have to DO anything?”  That’s where I won’t compromise with a woman like her.  It’s too hard to not admit and continue to state how madly in love you are and how you are hopeful that it will work.

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Convergence in Threes

I have always believed that circumstances occur in threes and that they are moving together to form a union.  I have taken lessons from my personal theory of convergence.  Two-years ago, I was FURIOUS with my most recent ex, I saw the woman who I believe to be my one, and I was talking with the woman who broke my heart.  I asked her this weekend what that meant and she said, “Past, present, and future.”  The thing is that the latter is not definite.  Your future is only what lies right in front of you and what you are dealing with currently.  You can make plans and you can always hold out for hope, but you only have now.  Kabat-Zinn has it right!

I want to be with her.  I want to raise our sons.  I would like to have another child too.  Have I mentioned–perhaps in this entry–that I’m NOT Buddhist.  Boy, I’m not.

The thing is that we have the connection thing and our intimate life is earth-shattering and has the making of what could last because of our similarities.  That fact yields more desire and passion than either of us know what to do with and winds up being difficult during our busy weeks.  We certainly are not free from desire.  And we are both strong women.

We talked out in complete the whole misconception that we had at the end of September.  We may not have conceded that the other was right, but we met in the middle, didn’t get bogged down in detail, and made a plan for how we could move forward if we were emotionally triggered or had fears that lead to any problems with our connection.

I want to be honest, that Sunday nights are actually shit.  I sit here and want to be back in bed with her, smell her skin, stroke her long hair and kiss her cheeks and forehead.  She makes the little things warm and connected, and when she and I talk for the final time each night, and I hear fatigue in her voice, it tears up my soul to not be able to run her a bath, light the candle that I got for her and make her a new playlist with songs like “Answer” on them to let her know that I will always keep the balance.  That is something for all of my drawbacks that I can do.

So, I want to get married.  I want to raise kids and have one more.  We are back to the illustrious three, which typifies all unions, imho.  She and I though are not converging, but I still hold hope that we will take this year to see what we have and if we can make sense of these events that have not been random, but were there so we could really meet rather than seeing each other across a wine bar when she had a girlfriend, I was in a bizarre love triangle, and a woman who I had not slept with in over two-years (back in 2010) held more of my attention that night than she should have.  I want to find my pattern of three that leads us to where we are supposed to be.

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Slowing it all down

“If you have the last hands that I want to hold, then I know that I’ve got to let them go,” are pretty powerful lyrics.  I get it too.  It’s funny how after you date for awhile that you start to understand your patterns better.  I got pretty thrown off and caught up here, but I got the whole slow it down e-mail, which coupled with the disagreements is not boding well for me and my feelings of safety.  I trust her, but I don’t feel secure right now, and will have to see what these next two months feel like.  I have always held that it takes as Proulx writes, “a full turn of the calendar” to actually get to know another person.  Although she was writing about grief, it holds true with relationship too.  Here is what I used to think and some of it has changed, but only in slight:

“Honestly, I think that people force compatibility.  They have an idea of what they are looking for, and then put all of that into the person who they are dating.  They don’t see the whole person, or acknowledge what can be intuited, but instead ignore what they really are feeling.  I believe that many times it is because they fear being alone.  Often, they wind up living together without truly seeing who the other person is or just observing him or her and taking note of what kind of person is in front of them.” (me, 2009)

The thing that has really altered for me is that I really DO know what I’m looking for.  I want stability, and I want to matter and be treated well, I want to be thanked for the little things that I do and not be taken for granted, I want passion, I want time outdoors…  And, I want another child.  That’s the whole thing that can kinda screw me up and take me off balance at times.  I need to acknowledge that in myself and realize that I’ll never be a Buddhist because I really do have wants and desires.  I’m not as detached as I try to be.

So, what am I going to do now?  I’ll just be less fervent with contact.  We are both pretty busy and honestly, if I’m just one of the pack in a busy life, that won’t be enough for me.  The funny thing is that I love my friends and do anything for many of them, but during the week, I just chill with my son and keep up with them as needed.  I had a traditional dinner party last night and it was fun.  I like the  laughter and convo in my kitchen and love to cook.  I want to do some stuff like that, but only every other month.  Although I am a classic extrovert, I did learn one more lesson besides letting things go, and loving water from my last relationship.  I learned that silence is really golden and slowing down and being simply mindful when you can has it’s virtues.  Right now I’m hardly in a space of a quiet mind, but I am writing and expressing before my long day gets rolling.  It helps me to frame where I am and where I want to go.

I want us to work, but I don’t know if she’s in for the long haul.  We are both passionate, but I don’t feel like I meet her needs and can’t do that for very long.  I like to be good at what I do.  Plus, I think that I’m a great catch.  I don’t know which way it will turn out, but I can tell you that I’m intuitive and she is watching me with great skepticism right now.  That’s ok, I’m an observer too, and some of my observations have lead me to wonder if I can be perfect for her.  Perhaps no.  I’m ok with that too.  We shall see.  Tristan Prettyman says, “I’m not surprised that you still call, I’m more surprised that I don’t answer.”  I guess we all have surprises in ourselves that connections with others tend to reveal.

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The land that I love

I took my son to the best state in the world this weekend.  We saw mountains, rivers and even palm trees toward the end of the afternoon on Sunday.  We had taken a train ride down the state and wound up where it doesn’t snow.  I love it here.  I want to be done with my clinical license and have a good practice going so I can start up a mortgage in one of these counties on a cabin.  I feel alive down here in a way that is not even paralleled when I summit a mountain.  It’s a need.  I hope that although he will only be six, that he understands it.  He was tired and bratty all day yesterday, so I will see this morning.  He is still sleeping and must have a slightly runny nose, because he’s snoring.  Ha.

I talked with her last night and basically complained about how bad it was to have an overstimulated, exhausted child all day.  I went ahead against my better judgment and pushed forward with plans, which I probably shouldn’t have, but the train ride was amazing.  More for me than him, perhaps, but with kids you always wonder what they’ll remember.  We shall see.  We talked about her Saturday, which sounded pretty good, and then we connected about us.  I’m hoping that she will really give us some time to see.  I don’t know.  I think that although she says that it is a process of discovery, she may or may not continue it.  That’s because relationships are so much work.  I know that I’m worth it, but you don’t get to decide that for the other person, so I’ll just be and do what I can do, which is be good to her everyday.  I’ll see her tonight–barring pure exhaustion adding miles to the hundreds that I’ll drive this afternoon.  I need to touch her though, because it always helps us both, I think.  It’s only been six-days, but we both are passionate and get a lot out of our physical intimacy.

I’ve dated for 4.5 years.  It will be five this fall.  I’ve been with five girls in a more serious ways, but I can’t even remember the number of dates that I’ve had.  I’ve weeded through tons of girls with whom I’m not the least compatible.  When you’re flexible, and  naturally adaptable, you have some odd dates.

I think that the worst one that I ever had was nearly four years ago.  One of my best friends and I were out dancing and we picked up two girls with the intention of taking them home, and then the girl who I had been making out with all night–even pushed her up against the cattle tank full of drinks–said, “If you think that I’m one of those girls you can just pick up, you picked the wrong one.”  I told her that I didn’t know what kind of girl she was.  We texted that day and she made a date for the end of the month.  We had good conversation, laughs, etc., and after we had sushi, we walked around the corner to a neighborhood bar that was cool and had a beer.  So, when she walked me back to my car, I figured, well, hello?  Then she pushed me away and said, “Not tonight.  We’ll have plenty of other chances,” and I told her, “It’s not like we haven’t made out before, what’s the problem?”  I was FURIOUS driving home.  Turns out that she still lived with her partner of six-years who had been in various rehab programs–I learned this a few weeks later.  They provided each other with all the emotional support that partners should.  I knew then that we’d never sleep together.  I’m a firm believer that if you date awhile, you need the test drive.  I’m not old fashioned.

I think that women do that more often than men and women.  I think that lesbian breakups are really vague and that the women who are “broken up” often keep up with the intimacy (meaning just the emotional) well after the relationship is over.  I don’t know why I don’t do that.  I don’t even talk at all to the last girl who I considered doing the serious venture with recently.  I don’t want to either.  I don’t know if I have it in me to redefine as friends.  I think that if I’d be forced to do that now if I were dumped that it would take me many years.  I don’t even know if I could have her as a close friend.  How does longing to touch someone go away?  See?  I really don’t know anything about keeping a relationship together.  They don’t scare me, but they sure don’t have any cookbook approaches that I can follow to make things work.  I just want to show up everyday, be loving and honest, and hope for the best.  I think that’s all that I can do.