Wayfarer, the little seaside island analogy is perfect. I know it’s still early days for me and I am hopeful I will get to a place where I can keep our conversations only about business and kids and maintain my little safe island.
The hard thing for me is that he has this dream of us somehow being friends right now. I have clearly communicated that friendship for me includes empathy, apologies and each of us owning our side of the street (a hill that I am not willing to die on, but that’s my line in the sand).
Yesterday we were discussing schedules and kids. I have a milestone birthday in a couple weeks and my FOO have rented a lakeside house for a long weekend together with our kids. He asked what that was going to look like and I said ‘well, I thought I would have the kids for that time as their cousins will be there and it’s been planned for a year?’ He said yes, of course you can have the kids, I was just wondering if I was invited too? I just looked at him and realized how out of touch he is. My brothers are fiercely protective of me right now... I know they would support whatever I decided was best for me and the kids, but what am I supposed to do here?
