Thanks so much Patience, GG, Johnswife, Jenny, and Step-by-Step! Your support and encouragement means a great deal to me.
H is away now on business for a couple of weeks so things will probably be pretty uneventful here. On that score though, he was very noticably much more considerate than in the past in trying to make sure anything that needed to get done here for me and the girls got done prior to his departure. The little things certainly do mean a lot!
Patience, you asked a couple of specific questions and I wanted to comment. I did, however, respond to your predicament under "Midlife Crisis" last night. My H is certainly within the midlife age range and showed many characteristics typically listed, but I'm honestly not sure whether our situation has truly involved an MLC. There have been crises on the professional front for him and he tends to internalize much so communication had certainly broken down between us and stress levels were off the charts with us having gone through everything during the year before our separation. I was clearly not aware a couple of years ago that parts of my conduct were perceived as unsupportive and insensitive, but the benefit of hindsight has allowed me to be honest with myself and share a good serving of responsibility for alienating him. Post partum depression on my side certainly was a contributor in the whole mess too, as was adjusting to giving up a successful career and opting to be a stay at home.
If you can, try to "switch the tape" when your mind starts to look too much at how long your separation has been. That's hard for a planner to do, but it will otherwise eat away at you and possibly others' opinions (who have never even contemplated DB) will actually cause you to sink as you flip the pages on the calendar.
Thanks again. Have a wonderful day everyone--Jamie
