Dear Ellie
Thanks for the two stories - I will remember that Hs pain will continue to exist. Where does one draw the line between habitual wearing of duct tape and habitual avoidance of conflict?

As for the WAH story, I read this with a fair stab of guilt, having had that Scarlett O'hara moment of realising I had taken H for granted. That story could possibly be how my H viewed our marriage (he told a friend before christmas that I wouldn't have counselling which is completely untrue) and that he was fully justified in leaving the unloving wife. Would like to hear her side of things which I bet would be a catalogue of all the ways in which her H has failed her. I am here because I can see how destructive I was in the M and want to atone but am definately not the Wicked Witch that my H perceived me as.