The Long Haul

[Burgbud]

Wow! I went through that crap Friday and it took two days for the winds to blow it down to you. At least it seems to have missed RNC on the way.

So, hey. Acknowledge the set back and move forward. It almost seems to me like H was begging for this. He's been pushing you pretty hard lately. I hate to recommend this to anybody, but maybe you can take a page from my W's book...I'm pretty absent-minded so when I think of something she ought to know, I want to tell her right away. It's generally something small, so if I'm interrupting her reading a book or talking with the kids, I figure that's better than if I forget. But now if she tells me she doesn't want to hear it right now and I tell her it's just something small and not unpleasant, she says something like, "Are you *ever* going to respect me enough to leave me alone when I'm not ready to talk?" And I say, "I'm sorry; you're right." Well, I say that now. Not that long ago I would have been really pissed. But you know what? She *is* right.

Now, I'm guessing you can come up with a more pleasant way to say it than she does, but the point holds. You've voiced your boundary, now you have to enforce it. It might be tough the first few times but eventually he'll believe you when you say it's best to talk later. And that will probably be a relief for both of you.