Thank you Job, OwnIt, and Treasur. Becoming more detached is the key. It was extremely hard at first, but I am finding as I become more practiced, it becomes exponentially easier.

More typical MLC-type behavior over the weekend . . .

On Friday, out of the blue H texted me to tell me he had picked S up (H has every other Friday off) and was going to take him to the park. When he got to the day care the teacher told him he had diarrhea a couple of times so H said he rethought his plan and just went home saying that because of the heat and diarrhea, S should stay at home. I got this text when I was 5 minutes from the day care.

When I called, H gave me an earful. I told him I was 5 minutes away and it would have been nice to have known ahead of time that I wouldn't have to pick S up. H spewed that he had to ambush me because I don't let him take S anywhere. (This is true. Since December, when I found out he lied to me about taking S to a work function, but instead tried to arrange a meet with OW; as an aside, OW refused. He brought S home 1 1/2 hour past his bed time and later than when he said he would be back. He didn't text or call me to tell me he was running late, so for an hour and half I paced the house concerned about S. I told him that I could no longer trust what he was doing with S and as long as we are both living under the same roof, I was not going to allow him to take S anywhere. I know I may receive a 2x4 for this. I was trying to lay a boundary - which he has strangely honored. I realize when I move out, I won't be able to control what he does with S. I can live with that. What I couldn't live with was H taking S to meet OW while living under the same roof.)

I calmly responded that it would have been nice to know ahead of time. He seemed to calm down.

At this point, does it really matter? No. So long as I don't already have plans, I don't care what he does with S. That is on him. Also, by dropping the rope, he won't be getting the type of reaction he expects. Which means he won't have another thing he can point to as justification for what he is doing.

Although there is a part of me that thinks the only reason he did this was to try to provoke a reaction from me. I get the feeling he is looking for fuel for his justifications. I feel this way because he didn't do a single thing with S for the rest of the weekend. MLCers do things like this, no?

Anyway, once I arrived at home, S wanted to watch a movie on tv. H told him no that he should go outside and play. (What?!? He just told me that he didn't want to take S to the park because of the diarrhea issue and the heat, but now he is telling S to go outside and play. I don't see the logic.)

The power went out Saturday afternoon and wasn't restored until Sunday morning. When it went out, H was at the store. I was about to take S out to get his haircut and some dinner when H returned. Bummer. I was trying to lift the garage door to pull my car out so I got delayed. If the power had not gone out, I would have escaped before H returned home. So we went together and had dinner together. Something we haven't done since he had me served. When we returned home H disappeared for a couple of hours claiming he had a paper due for school and needed internet access. Yea, sure buddy.

While waiting for food, I pulled out an old phone I have. In June before we went to his nephew's wedding I erased the phone, then loaded it with toddler videos, movies, and games for the plane ride for S. H saw the phone and saw S watching videos on it during the trip. When I pulled the phone out of my purse, H asked if I got a new phone. Really? Their brains are this Swiss cheese?!? I said, no, this is the phone I have been using since the plane trip for nephew's wedding. You would have thought that I was speaking Mandarin to him.

On Sunday morning our washing machine broke. And boy did H get mad. I told him I would take care of it, but he insisted on looking at it. He was already in a foul mood about doing repairs because, if you recall, he pulled the towel bar off the wall in our 2nd bathroom, the ceiling fan in S's room broke again after he tried to fix it a couple of weeks ago, and there are ants invading our house. I have never seen him this angry over home repairs.

What's kinda funny is my dad commented to me that he thinks H just doesn't like to be reminded he has responsibilities. Lol! And my dad doesn't know a thing about MLC!!! When I told my dad about what happened at dinner re the cell phone, he reminded me that H doesn't remember anything unless it has to do with him. If something doesn't affect him or have to do with him, he isn't going to care. It is all about him. Hasn't HB reminded us of this? My dad also commented that he thinks H is going to go into a tailspin before this is all over. Dad thinks H is going to realize single life won't be the unicorns and rainbows he imagined. Isn't that what HB and the vets all tell us what happens? My dad is a regular MLC pro and he doesn't even know it. wink Or maybe God was using my dad to remind me of some things I needed to remember???

I went to see the house I will be moving into. It is half the size of our current residence and nowhere near as nice. But it is a place to live, it is cheap, and it is near family. All I can do is soldier on.