Hanging and hoping- seperation edition

[Bman72]

I've been thinking more about your sitch - I'm far from qualified to give you anything but my humble thoughts so please filter it accordingly. You said your wife is not respecting you yet you also said in another post that she isn't spewing horrible things at you like some peoples situations here - I believe that most people are doing their best even if we can't make sense of it - it is their reality and how they see the situation that they are reacting to - if she is not spewing at you then that is a reflection of how you are treating her. You are to be commended for that. Just set the tone of what you expect and treat her in the same way and she sounds like a decent person who will reflect this - if not then you set a boundary that you don't accept the way she treats you and she will learn. It is a process of trial and error and you take data from each interaction and build on it - what works and what doesn't. Ultimately if you find her behaviour unacceptable then you respond accordingly. If the best you can have is friendship then isn't that a good place to start building from - as long as she is aware that your intention is to work on the marriage and that you don't accept being friend zoned in the long run. The other option is to tell her to leave you to get on with your life and to call you if she changes her mind. Just my humble thoughts.