My muddle....(warning: Olympic-class soap opera inside)

homestead jenna

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Sounds like I'm not the only one in a muddle today and there's good advice just pouring out of people here...so here goes:

I am married to dh and live on a property he bought and does not have my name on (even though he only bought it 2 years ago). Our relationship is...difficult, to say the least. This is actually the second time we've been married to each other; married in 1997, divorced in 2002, and remarried in 2005. I'll abridge the pain and just say that many of our values don't match up which inevitably results in arguments and he's got some condition where his testosterone level is the lowest the doctor has ever seen (and you might be able to guess what THAT means). In fact, I really find myself resenting the fact that - he's known about this low level for some time now (and SO have I!) and only just recently decided to do something because another doctor told him how that could impact his own cardio-vascular and diabetic situations - as though the impact on ME wasn't important enough to handle it before, ya know?

Most of my distress in our relationship centers on him being somewhat...myopic (yeah, that's a good word) about anyone else's feelings. For instance, 2 years ago when he had his 50th b-day I threw a nice party with relatives and friends, and also sent him balloons at work and sent in a cake with a motorcycle on it with a friend of his for a lunchhour celebration. Last year - for my 50th, he decided we'd go see a movie. In his defense he did ask what movie I wanted to see...but then left it to me to find out where/when it was playing and to let him know the plan. That was IT. The last gift I ever got from him was 9 years ago - a Boze Wave Radio that HE had wanted and had waved ads in front of me for nearly a year for...that I refused to keep. Now he just mostly doesn't bother - I swear I think it just never occurs to him to do something for someone else. Most recently he told me the other night the reason he can't help out any (all I was asking was an occasional offer of washing dishes) is that he has a 1-hour commute each way on his job and that's so stressful. ?????

My brother lives in a town 25 miles from here in our mother's house (she passed in 06). He has always said I can come there to live; it would even help him out. He and I get along great even though he's 16 years younger than I am. There's plenty of room for the ag projects I want to get into - although he would ideally like to sell once the market gets back on its feet. That will mean another move - but I'm still welcome to stay with him wherever he decides to move. He's very much into the whole self-sufficiency thing so that's cool, as well.

At this point, I need to do something and I have to sort of decide soon. I want to get my chickens and bees and get a garden in. To say nothing of figuring out a huge STRESS source. I've been standing on the corner of Do I Stay and Do I Go for a long time now.

The other sticking point here is my daughter. She lives in another house on dh's property; she's unemployed and hasn't been paying her rent, uses fuel oil that's on his account, etc. I've been paying for that stuff. She goes back and forth between moving in with the boyfriend and then not. Driving me batty because things will change by the HOUR on that sometimes.

I probably won't be able to accept the farm job I was so excited about - in any case - because of the money hemorrhage with my daughter and having to pay my brother rent if I move there...so I'm stuck in this office job that's making me crazy (never work for someone who's undiagnosed bipolar!). I'm resigned at my age (51 come Monday) that I'll be single for the rest of my life probably - but that's not that big a deal. I don't have a lot of outstanding bills (as I'm way too careful with credit). The only "savings" I have is invested in my son's condo - housing market has to bounce back a LOT for me to have any access to that.

Anyway - can someone help me get some clarity here? Can you tell this is all seeping around in the dismal mindswamp where I can't really tell the end of the beginning? Somebody looking in has got to have a better take on this all than I do.
 

homestead jenna

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Homesteadmom said:
Are these his children too?
No, my daughter is mine. He hasn't any children.

He spent our first marriage trying to make me choose him over my kids.
 

MorelCabin

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Don't be offended by what I am about to say...but you not putting him first over your kids is most likely the center of your problem.
You daughter needs to leave about now and go find her own life.
I had two kids before I met my DH as well and I still put him first...that really helped him to love and respect my kids instead of resent them...and it allowed him to be the man of the house like he SHOULD be.
As far as your DH not giving you what you feel is adequate attention....niether does mine:>) I have done the 40th BD party for him, never to have one myself...WHO CARES! There are countless other ways that he shows he loves me in HIS way...not MINE...but i have accepted that he loves me and that is that. I was always the cuddly type, he never was...he is very standoffish...does that mean he doesn't love me? Of course not. He is loyal faithful and kind...and I love him for that.
If your husband ever does get the nerve up to buy you a gift again, don't be critical about it...one day he might get you things that YOU would like...I know, been through that with mine too:>) And it took a long time for him to get it...like 15 years! But the last three years he has been ful of surprises!
Anyway, that is just my opinion on what might be going on:>)
 

Homesteadmom

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I take it your children are of age & not minors any longer. First dd needs to get a job & pay her own way(nothing wrong with helping a little bit but not foot the whole bill!). Second you need to inform her you are getting another job & can not afford to pay her way any longer(I guess this would actually be the first move you make). Do you live in a community property state? If so the land is half yours too & he will owe you half the equity in it the divorce. Move to your brothers & get all your ss project started that you can this year. Make yourself happy for once. Being alone is not a horrible thing & it may not last forever, but it is better than having your feelings ignored all the time & never getting what you want but what he wants(been there done that & not going back to it). You are better than that & deserve better than that. :hugs Evidently he is not going to change since he hasn't yet & this is the second time around. Time to pick up your ife & move forward, no sense in being stuck in a unhappy rut all the rest of your life. Not that I think divorce is always the answer, but I think in your case you really know this is what you need to do to be able to move forward & on. I wish you lots of luck & I will be praying for you.
 

homestead jenna

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Thanks, MorelCabin, for your take on it and it's a good comment with a lot of truth to it. When we were first married and my kids were 10 and 12...I did want someone to lead our home and all. We went to his church (which really emphasizes that sort of thing) and I tried to let him take the lead...but he didn't. His approach was basically to pretend they didn't exist. I couldn't abide that.

Thanks, HomesteadMom - you're quite correct...it's time to make myself happy. That sounds so selfish but I've been doing for somebody else so long to the exclusion of myself that sometimes it feels like I have to wait to find the cracks in what everyone else is doing to squeeze into.
 

MorelCabin

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homestead jenna said:
Thanks, MorelCabin, for your take on it and it's a good comment with a lot of truth to it. When we were first married and my kids were 10 and 12...I did want someone to lead our home and all. We went to his church (which really emphasizes that sort of thing) and I tried to let him take the lead...but he didn't. His approach was basically to pretend they didn't exist. I couldn't abide that.

Thanks, HomesteadMom - you're quite correct...it's time to make myself happy. That sounds so selfish but I've been doing for somebody else so long to the exclusion of myself that sometimes it feels like I have to wait to find the cracks in what everyone else is doing to squeeze into.
Your DH sounds so much like mine it's uncanny...mine never seems to want to take any leadership around here either...and I have been trying to push him to it for years! He is finally kind of starting now after 20 years...and I am so proud of him...like the other day when he spent $2000 when he KNEW I wasn't really in agreement...but he actually put his foot down...which was a shock in some ways...
 

Homesteadmom

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Nothing wrong with making yourself happy, we are the only ones who can do it. It is not selfish to want happiness in your life.

Morel, I think we have all been there at one time or another to relate to the truthness(enough said). So no need to delete your post.

I am 4 yrs older than dh & my drive is more than his at this point & sometimes I get a little creative too. Sometimes it takes a few days of teasing to get him motivated!! :he :celebrate
 

patandchickens

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I was really, really, really miserable with my husband (who shares many of your husband's traits) for some years. You might consider counselling, although it certainly didnt' help us I know it *has* helped for other people.

But then I read something somewhere, that I'd probably heard a zillion times before of course, and it just kind of 'clicked'. If you want something, don't depend on someone else to give it to you, go out and take care of it YOURSELF.

So I tried real hard to pick myself up and whap myself upside the head and take care of my OWN needs rather than being miserable about DH and others not fulfilling them.

The result was about a year and a half of living my own life with DH just happening to live here too. Getting myself sorted out on my own.

But you know what. Even though there were a number of other, actually somewhat larger, problems than DH ignoring me and appearing not to care or want to deal with things together, actually once I got my life and head rearranged so that I was making sure I got the things I needed, amazingly DH does not seem nearly so offensive and obnoxious now :p I actually like him again :p Well ok MOST of the time :p And the more serious things he was doing, have also stopped. Interestingly enough.

I don't know how much this applies to your situation of course. But it sounds like it might to some extent. Can you take care of giving YOURSELF what you don't feel you're getting from DH? (And maybe see if the daughter would be better off with a spell of having to stand on her own two feet). Things might look different in a while. Whereas if you just leave your husband, it seems quite possible that you will still not be gettin' what you need and thus may not be as much happier that way as you might expect.

Just a thought. Hugs and good luck,

Pat
 
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