I Sorry for the first long post but I have tried to condense it.
BITS
H - 37 W - 38 Together - 16y Married - 12y Daughter - 14 Son - 12 Date of WAW - 14/04/11
My Story (WAW)
Things have been getting worse of the last couple of years tbh, and whilst we did try at things IMHO we only touched on the surface. In the last couple of months things had got bad for me and I had become very down with the way W had been treating me, no affection (but were still having S), snappy, moody and even starting to shout at me in front of friends. I didn't read the signs.... At a friends BBQ on 10/04/11 she did it again, resulting in the next few days me being down and moody with W, and this created a circle where she would be worse. Do you see how You were worse too? I'm just asking, but you admit you both mistreated each other, only you seem to have a reason whereas she doesn't...it's a bit self serving don't you think?
14/04/11 she said that she wasn't happy with R,... I am 99% sure there is no OP a she doesn't have much time for job, me, home and kids let alone anyone else No wonder she "loves" her life. Read your description of her life again...
She then stayed in a hotel for 3 nights as I said I had to be at home with kids as it was holidays so she needed to spend some time away. I also did this as it was usually me who stays away, and I wanted her to feel being in a lonely room without usual home comforts and only your thoughts.
Punitive of you. Never makes you look good and only validates her negative beliefs about you.
I sent her an honest letter on 18/04/11 being completely honest in saying where I felt things had gone wrong, (her being moody, jealous of 2 of her friends becoming close and excluding her, clashing with D, all of which I felt she then took out on me, made me in a bad mood to her creating a vicious circle) I also pointed out where I felt I had gone wrong. This is all really about how wrong SHE is and how you were merely reacting to her "wrongness". You are the victim in your letters. That gives her no reason to believe things can get better.
a conversation and she admitted that she had been horrible to me (a bit*h in her actual words) and said she was so sorry for making me feel so sad and that she just wanted me to be happy and that she was not the person to do this. I said to her that all I wanted was to be happy with her, for us to be happy, and that I felt that I should be the one leaving, not the one saying lets work at things and that I love her, to her reply of she didn't want to work at things any more, I'm a nice guy and now realises how much I love her and how badly she had treated me. (Should have realised I should have told her I love her more, but didn't). She said that she didn't know why she had been treating me so badly, only that she felt I talked down to her. This ^^ goes back & forth but your comment that you should be the one leaving right after she is apologizing to you for mistreating you...wow, you blew an opportunity to turn things around but rubbed her face in it instead.
A couple of days later we had another open honest conversation,... we cannot make each other happy, and its been getting worse for some time now, to which she agreed with. I said that when we had issues in the past but we never ever talked about them as in-depth as we are now, and if we had done this a couple of years ago and were still in this position now I would say lets part, but we hadn't and we can make it work. W said no, we had tried and it was no good. I said you sent me a text only 3 weeks ago telling me how much you loved me, to the reply of "I was putting issues to the back of my mind..." This ^^^ all justifies a DIVORCE, not working it out...do you see that now?
she realised how hurt I was
Wife wants to move out and rent... I have cash as I have a CC), but she has asked me to lend her the money so she can put down 6 months rent in advance and to take it off any final settlement (i.e equity in property) Asked her if we were doing the right thing
Why'd you ask her this if you did not think it was the right thing? Why not simply state YOUR CASE FOR THE M?
... I told her I loved her and that I didn't want to just throw 16y away without trying and exhausting everything first, to which she again replied that she thought we had and that was it. She knows I love her deeply and that I want to work at it. How does she "know" this?
... Then asked her again not to leave and lets try at this, which I now think drove her further away and she said no to C, so I said that she needs to move out ASAP
more anger and punishment from you. Not attractive. Have you heard the phrase, "Keep the Road Home, Paved & Smooth"?
We have told the kids what is going on as we feel they are old enough to understand (when I say we, I did ALL of the talking) Why?
I said that I thought she had changed her fb status, removed rings and wanted to rent quickly to get out of the situation as fast as possible so she cannot turn back easily. What was your goal in saying that?
Friday night I went out with friends and stayed at mates house. Wife was up late drinking wine and posting on fb, which I think was due to me being out with single mates... (She hasn't got a clue about tech or money for that matter as I do everything) So I thought I would carry it on so she would realise just what little things such as this would be like, Wow...and the goal was for you to "teach her a lesson"? My DB coach once told me that "it's not our job to 'teach them a lesson', Life does that."
What I have done.
I have purchased the M3 (Michael Griswold) module and have ordered both db dv books (and Spanish for dummies as I want to do new things) and combined that with the help I have read on here.
I believe that there are still feelings there on both sides, which is why I am going to try my best to save us. She is not eating or sleeping properly either! I sent her a message yesterday agreeing to her that we should break up and that the R we had was broken
Why did you do that? You just said your goal was to work things out...wth?
which neither of us want/wanted. I also said that things will be difficult at times but we were making the right decision. ( I did this for acceptance, I don't want her to leave, but I do know I do not want the R we finished up with, I want a new better one) I did not want or look for a response as I cannot control this. She sent a text back saying thanks for being understanding and she wants it to be amicable for both us and the kids! So the plan did not work? What did you do differently?
The M3 module has given me some insight into looking at myself first, YES and in fact, since you are the only one you control, I would eliminate the word "first" in that sentence and end it after the word "looking at myself."
But I am trying to use fb as the M3 system says, as PR. I'm into DBing and am not familiar with that approach. But I would not mix conflicting approaches, if that is what's happening.
but this Acting is killing me
Many of us should be nominated for Oscars, really. But it does help our situations.
I have confided in my best mate what I am doing, and he has been brilliant. I have just seen W post on news feed (didn't go on her wall) saying she had a fab weekend and doesn't want it to end, I am trying not to look into it but you know! I think she has posted it for my benefit! Stop the mind reading...
It's counter productive AND usually keeps the focus on them, instead of YOU and YOUR WORK...
I am not looking at the past in that if I had only done x,y,z then things could have been different etc, as I believe this is only negative and my saying to this is, if my auntie had balls then she would be my uncle. Its in the past, don't dwell on it, but use it in the future.
Then give her the same benefit...no more grievance list, no more keeping score of her "wrongs".
I have now started the NC/LC route, but do I ignore everything or respond to questions of the kids etc? (I have just responded to her last text, kids are fine). Always respond to issues related to the kids.
Part of me says she has chosen this path, she must do it alone, part thinks to get her out ASAP and help her so she can miss me (but she will be tied to 6 month rental contract then), but other parts say, she has chosen to do this, it your house (family home) why should I leave and if I do does that give her more control over the house etc (I pay all of the house bills etc and always have) worst case scenario.
I know she will want me to set up the TV, internet etc etc when she gets her place but will not be taken down that road.
Yes, the R was pretty crappy in the last few months especially, which I am honest about, but I love her and do not want to just chuck 16 years away. I am so confused what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's pretty much my first impression of your situation. Have not caught up with it all, but I hope you look at this and see that there is ANOTHER point of view.
M: 57 H: 60 M: 35 yrs S30,D28,D19 H off to Alaska 2006 Recon 7/07- 8/08 *2016* X = "ALASKA 2.0" GROUND HOG DAY I File D 10/16 OW DIV 2/26/2018 X marries OW 5/2016