My wife gave no response (not even a courtesy "No") to the Mother's Day meal idea. Going through this weekend without, well, mom around definitely was awkward and sad, especially when I took our son to the store, restaurant or at church.
1. On Saturday evening, we were the only father-son diners there. Our son said things like, "They eating together...with their mommies and daddies. Where's mommy?" It breaks my heart that my son sees those kinds of family units/activities as exceptions now, rather than a rule. He knows the routine, i.e. now I'm going to mommy's house; now I'm going to daddy's house, etc. 2. Sunday at church they handed out flowers to all the mom's there. And our son asked, "Where's mommy's flower?" Besides watching some of the men going up to talk about their wives/moms, everyone left really quickly for their own lunch plans, and my boy and I were the second last people left in the parking lot. It felt really lonely without my wife there. 3. More of a bittersweet moment: At the grocery store on Saturday, we were waiting in the checkout line, and our son pointed to a picture of Prince William and Kate kissing on their wedding day (People's Magazine). He asked what's that, and I told him that that's a prince and princess, they got married and are kissing because they're happy and love each other. Awhile later back at home, our son spots a framed photo that I had arranged in the bookcase. It is a photo of my wife and I kissing on our wedding day. He says, "Look, mommy is a princess. Mommy and daddy are happy!" I smiled from ear to ear at him, but when he went back to playing, I looked away and cried.
After my wife had picked our son up back to her place yesterday, I called my sister and mom to chat. In the middle of the call with my mom, my wife called once which I ignored, then a second time a minute later. When she does that I know it's probably urgent, so I told my mom I had to see what my wife wanted. I called back:
M: Hello? W: Just like you to not answer your phone. M: Hello? Can you say that again? W: You don't pick up your phone, just like you typically do. M: I was talking to other people on the phone.
Then she explained that our son had not stopped crying since he got home because he had left his firetruck at my place and I had forgotten to hand it to him when I was strapping him into his car seat. So I said I'll come drop it off, which I did. When I handed it to him, I just said, "Sorry, daddy didn't hand the firetruck to you."
Anyway, from that phone conversation above, one can deduce that my wife is very obviously still resentful and angry of me.
