Newtothis

Hi y’all well I’m finally (hasn’t been a long time, but it’s been a long process) am at the point where I’m ready to let someone new into my heart. I met a wonderful man out of nowhere, and we had a wonderful couple nights out and have been texting every day. I really like him. He knows about late DH and the kids. We are taking things really (really) slowly, but I do see potential for a serious relationship. when and how should I approach this with my (12, 9, 4 yo) kids? Obviously not trying to introduce them until it’s serious. But do I need to tell them I’m seeing someone? And when did y’all do that? Thanks

And even though you are strangers, I judge myself so I have to tell you how hard it would have been to leave. I hai was training for a profession to support my family. I’m licensed. Anonymity is not an option. My face is on websites even if my name has changed, and I believed him when he said he would hurt my other family to find me. I knew. That cocaine and alsohol and trauma fueled monster died with him. I try to keep the pure spirit, the one I see in all my children, alive. its a struggle sometimes. Ok ok I think I’m done for now. I k

ive posted on a few other boards, but tonight I’m drawn here. My phone is shot and I can barely see my screen but I have to get it out so please excuse the typos. today I felt like a terrible parent for a good hour of solid fighting amongst all of us. I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions, much less my kids’. It was really rough. we all miss the good parts of their dad. We’re all healing from the damaged parts. Our whole family dynamic was so informed by his violence, avoiding it, going through it, dealing with it. for me, the struggle is regaining the respect I deserve as a mother when they saw him, in his sickness, treat me literally worse than an animal. How do you come back from that? How do you get control of a situation when for so long the other adult in the house was making it abundantly clear that you had zero control? weve been toap, but we need much more. That is supposed to say therapy. Until I find us another regular gig (we just did a grief group that was great), I’d love any suggestions. Maybe y’all didn’t go through that but you know the feeling of not being able to take the pain away from your children. i took them outside and we all made peace but y’all today was really rough on a widow Then trheres the guilt of staying so long. My oldest asked me today, angrily. I told him my truth, which was the way I know their dad, if I tried to take them and run, we would be running the rest of our lives, and he would never ever stop looking for them. I thought the only way to get out with any kind of life was to get him some help. And I did. And he was working through it. We were working through it. But then he died, and now I’m still picking up these pieces. I do a lot of yoga for this trauma in my hips. It feels like I e unearthed so much, and so much is left, but I see slow progress, with me, with them. i thaks for listening

This is such an old thread, but anyway. I got a few tattoos to memorialize my late husband and our family. They are simple and beautiful and I love them. 10 years ago, we got each other’s initials on our ring fingers. It feels awkward especially since I wear my wedding band on the other hand now, but I figure if love ever finds me again, if it bothers him, he can get me a large diamond to cover it up lol. Trigger for domestic violence one thing I want to do is cover some scars he left me when he got so bad into coke and alcohol and beat me up right before I sent him away to rehab. I had a beautiful back, and now it has forensic scars on it, in the shape of the objects he hit me with. I am reclaiming my body by covering them up. They make me sad and angry. I thought they would fade but it’s been over 18 months so... when I tattoo them I will have changed the narrative. it was a complicated love, but it was real. Til death did us part. That man was my family. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health. My other tattoos reflect that eternal love.

/deardiary Well, 2 if you count my first (maybe last) lesbian encounter on New Years, which I kind of don’t, because I like men. I mean titties are nice lol but I need that hard body. hi strangers. I just feel like I have to let this out to people who have been there. its been almost 7 months. Maybe that’s nothing. When my husband died I thought I was never going to have sex again. When a few days later I found out he had been fkn a rehab slut, I was devastated of course, but also liberated. I honored my vows. Death parted us. I’m free. and I just needed to be touched. Last week I gave a man who was smitten with my dancing (I’m dancing a lot these days) my number. We flirted over text, got to know each other a tiny bit, and 3 days later, I needed to be touched, so I sent a dirty text. I told him how confusing it was to want to feel someone else’s warm body after 17 years. I told him I liked thinking about what his warm body would feel like. It escalated pretty quickly from there and the next thing I know I was fkn him in the same room as my husband’s ashes. I would give it a 5. I miss my husband’s body, the mind-blowing physical/spiritual/emotional connection we built in thousands of sessions. He was my physical ideal. I probably won’t ever text this guy again. But damn if I didn’t need to be touched. And now im back in these waters. I met my husband when I was 20. I’m taking this time to rediscover who I am outside a marriage. I hope that when I have recovered enough, when I am whole again (if I’ve ever been), the universe will send me a mate. For now though, it’s 2019. I’m a grown woman. I probably won’t make it a practice to fk strangers after 3 days of texting but I’m not even mad at myself. I have loved and been loved. Maybe I will love again. But for now I’m working on loving myself, and leaving my heart open to the next great adventure. thanks for the space

Here I am now. It’s almost 6 months now. While life goes on, and I’m learning to live as me, having seen myself as we for so long. But god dammit it’s hard sometimes. This last few weeks has been rough. I’m triggered especially by the sympathy of those who have lost. Years, decades later they connect with my pain and it is so hard to think that it’s always there, forever. I feel so out of control. I feel like I need to be more consistent in using my positive coping mechanisms. I remember I worked out today and not to be so hard on myself. I want to feel a man’s body. I want someone to love. I want to love myself enough to wait for healthy love. I want to fuck every other man who gives me the eye. I don’t want my kids to see a revolving door of men. Joan Didion wrote about her year of magical thinking. Naive me at 2 months out said she was wrong. Now I see how crazy with grief I still am, despite the glow that has returned to my cheeks. thats enough for now. It’s like my pain is sap I can tap at any time and it will just flow out forever unless I shut it off. All the pain of our relationship and his death are coming to the surface.

I’m ok. We’re ok. Time heals. Thoughtful effort, open communication, unbreakable love, these heal. we still have tears for him. We may always. But we are ok.

i Started writing this a while ago One thing I wonder if people like my mother who tell me things about “who you chose as a husband and father to your children” is if they realize that my children would not exist were it not for him. Good and bad, we made them. They are incredible. How could that have been a mistake? Today, weeks later, I wonder how to help my tween son who, entering middle school without his shining star/ sometimes tormentor, is raging at his father, at me for marrying him, at him for dying drunk, at me for not letting him come home... i try try to make it age appropriate. The salient points: it’s not your fault he loved you so much (no he didn’t or he would have been here) daddy was sick (if he loved me he would have gotten better) i was protecting you I’m sick for my son. 3 months in (and a year into our separation), my waves of grief have done what time has meant them to do — not hit with quite such a blinding force, not flip me in their constant surf — and I am more prepared for them. but my boy. His poor raw developing brain, unable to process and transcend his emotions. He doesn’t want to speak to anyone. I try my best. I hurt so much for him.

Y’all don’t have to read this. But I have to write it. Thanks for the space. Today I’m celebrating the little victories, things I want to keep in my life as I rediscover who I am as a woman. i cleaned out the car! I made my bed! i got the kids to school on time! i caught up with a mom friend! My kids sat quietly doing their homework! i loaded the dishwasher! Twice lol I made a kick ass dinner and cleaned up after! i washed clothes! well that was yesterday. Today I’m raging in the wind at the rehab facilities and sober living houses that contributed to LH’s death. See the thing is, he chose to fall in with a drink on two legs, like they call these rehab romance girls who believe the whole “separated... waiting for the papers” bullshit. He chose to keep me 100% invested, asking me to come home, lying about his meth head “roommate” who facilitated his relapse with mediocre p*ssy and a similar taste for uppers (I had to wipe the laptop I bought him, when it came back to me with his belongings, and a few of hers, so my son didn’t stumble across that dirty little secret. So he could hold his father, in whose image he is created, in some esteem. Sure, Dad was an abuser and an addict, but a philanderer who chose some strung out whore and a ratty little dog over his incredible children? No. I won’t. So it’s my dirty secret now). but the thing is, he was in treatment. The same bastards that made him sign paperwork stating sexual activity is grounds for discharge sent him merrily to a “sober living house” to shack up with the bitch who helped him land back in relapse the first time. I see him both as actor full of hubris and victim of a system that profits from relapse-inpatient-outpatient-relapse cycles. How could that clinical misjudgment (a fatal one, in the end) be unintentional, if not personally, then systemically? its my ego... how could he leave me? How could he think this girl was better than me? This girl who was, by his own admission to his mother, which I found out after the fact, “just a dumb whore with big titties and a fat ass” that he was trying to save. I am humiliated. My husband the great (mourned in cities all over) died playing captain Save a Ho. Smmfh I’m midway between and on both ends of “he got what he deserved for how he hurt us” and “oh how do I go on without my life’s love.” thank god for this therapist I can’t comfortably afford. I see her tomorrow. Been reading David Burns Feeling Good again because my negative thoughts can be consuming. My living room looks like 3 kids with no parent live here. Let me do something about that. writing it out helps.

Thanks so much Sugarbell. It’s so nice to know I’m not alone in this. /deardiary At the same time, all I want is to be alone in this. I’m so rarely alone. I’m so rarely fully present. I am in a toxic limbo. I need a Yoga retreat. I need to pick up the tools I have in front of me — drawing, writing (not typing with a joint in my hand), dancing... and yet im stuck. I know smoking makes it worse. And yet here I am. I was so fucked up before he died. I envied him in rehab, just the opportunity to be responsible only to my own healing. But now the only person equal and better than me at parenting is gone. I don’t have the luxury with leaving my kids with the only other person who cares as deeply for them as you do. I’m the best they’ve got. So what I want is to be a better person. I want to love myself. I want to live up to my (kind of extraordinary, if I’m being a little Kanye about it) potential as a woman. I just need to apply the things I’ve learned and stop being so... _______. I said scared, then lazy, then stuck. My microprocessor is giving the rainbow beach ball. 17 years. This morning I thought back to 15? Years ago having my first traumatic flashback to the first traumatic fight. And today I think to a year back to the one of the last bad ones, the one where he beat so much blood into my soft tissues that I almost passed out later at work. At work! How did I do that? What strength allowed me not to wince when the nice young staffer squeezed my blood-engorged arms under long sleeves and said, “you been workin out?” Where is that now? I told myself when I was leaving... being without you will be easier... being a single mom to 3 instead of 4... But now I see I was wrong. His Dr Jekyll kept our family together in a lot of ways. I feel like my bones are gone. I steal these paragraphs while the kids sit, fed, the eldest bribed with the computer if he can entertain the little for 20 minutes while I get my life together enough to shower... to build some momentum so I don’t melt into the windowsill.

Also I know for an absolute fact that I’m in no shape for a relationship but damned if I’m not lonely and craving male intimacy. I see that as another destructive behavior though. I’m not tryna devalue myself. But I’ve thought about getting grief fucked. Sigh

This is super old but maybe someone can help me. I’m chain smoking cigarettes and joints and I want to stop. I started smoking at 15, weed at 18. I’m 38. I loved an alcoholic/addict for 17 years. I’m co-dependent AF. His addiction killed him in one instant 2 months ago. Mine is killing me over time. Blunting the time I have left. My life is... stressful. Privileged compared to many (many many, globally). Accomplished (but hanging on by a thread... at risk of losing it all if I don’t get my act right). A job that pays well but sucks for a solo parent, not enough to live how I want, where I want. Trying to save up to get back “home” when I left there for good reason. Traumatized to a very high degree (one DA called it “horrific” and she only knew 10% of the story), even before my husband. Parenting 3 amazing and equally (more?) traumatized kids, alone. These kids are the reason I’m alive. 2 years ago, on Halloween after he choked me in the half dark telling me I was going to die and I believed him, and I told myself I was going to beat him to it and I walked miles thinking next big pharmacy I’m getting a lethal dose and disappearing. What stopped me was writing the letter to my oldest. I couldn’t even get past I’m sorry. How could I write that to each of them? I couldn’t ever bear (bare? Uggghh) that. I couldn’t leave them on this earth without a protector. So I let him save me. And I went on to work. See, I’ve made it pretty far in life on above average intelligence, passable looks and a twinkle in my eye, and kindness. But other people around me have busted their ass and continue to bust their asses to be where I’m at, and I’m afraid I’m falling off the curve. so I want to stop it all. I am thankful I don’t have immediately life threatening addictions and I am somewhat embarrassed to admit the power these weak drugs have over me when I have seen the withdrawals from “real drugs” and alcohol. I feel guilty because I never got clean enough to help my husband. I feel like a terrible parent. i know this shame and guilt drives my addiction. i have respite this week: my dear friend is watching the big kids in the country until Friday. I will just have work and the baby and I really want a kickstart on truly living. anyone been there? Can help? I won’t have childcare after work so can’t really go to meetings. Just more want to take the self care and reflection route. thanks for listening

Today I’m feeling the weight of carrying on our family alone. I worked overnight and the baby woke up about 20 minutes after I got home. I napped with her 2 hours and the rest of the day was in mom mode. My career is ideal for the spouse of a parent with a flexible career, and a logistical nightmare for a solo parent. I can’t bring myself to say single parent, even though many parts of our marriage were far from ideal. Today I was angry at my situation, at how unfair it is that I worked so hard to get to where I am, just to have it all come crumbling down. I am angry with my broken, ignorant 20 year old self who had no business with another person’s heart in my hands. I introduced so many cracks in our foundation. i know forgiveness is key. I want to spend this time forgiving myself, and treating myself and my life with more than the utter disrespect i am showing myself and, by extension, everyone I love. i know I need long term therapy. I was 15 minutes late to my first appointment with a wonderful grief counselor because I couldn’t get my 3 kids to stop fighting and getting distracted, because I couldn’t organize my family like Dad did. He got everywhere 15 min early, kids or not. In some ways our strengths complemented each other. In the end though we weren’t two wholes. and now I’m still here, with a giant new hole in my not-whole-soul (lol) and I know I need to heal myself. But it’s midnight and I’m behind on work stuff and I just want to smoke and disappear from reality. i am meeting with the counselor again next week so that’s good. And I do celebrate the little steps and maybe next week I will get up earlier, manage my life better, be there on time. In the meantime I remind myself to be gentle with myself exactly where I am , to be honest with myself and to work to grow in self-love.

Thanks y’all for the support. If you don’t mind, I will continue to work out my emotions in this space. There are oh so many of them, profound sadness the one I wish I could express more, but it gets buried under the grind of daily survival (three months before they say it’s a problem right? Lol) and shame and guilt and anger. first, I’m thankful to be healthy enough to start to engage my children in meaningful healing discussions. in a book about trauma I read, the first step is safety and self care. Well, we’ve been physically safe 9 months now, and I’m working on emotional safety and higher level self self care (I mean, we get by. The second step is processing the trauma. Little by little the kids are opening up about the horrific abuse they endured at the hands of my LH. My son said, “it was like a war zone...” It makes me so angry and sad and terrible guilty for being too scared to leave earlier. But you know what? It’s our story and it is past. I looked my kids in the eye tonight and apologized for not being strong enough to leave earlier, and my son said, “it’s not your fault.” And I told them I will never allow another person to treat them like that again. i mean it. I loved my husband the best I knew how, and he did us. We hurt each other in all of the worst ways. He was profoundly traumatized, addicted, and socialized into terrible violence. He gave us some of the best and worst memories we have ever had. He’s free now. We’re free now. But our freedom is full of the frustration of having to fix the legacy of our dysfunction alone. The anger that he’s not there to help me make things right. The resentment of not having time or energy to heal my own wounds... i suppose I have to carve out space for myself. I find myself lacking the self love to do that.

Hi y’all, I’m new here. This is long and dear diary-y but I need to get it out, so thanks if you get through it and have a word for me... I was with my husband 17 years, we had 3 kids. He became increasingly addicted to cocaine and alcohol and increasingly abusive until I fled with the kids and gave him the choice of rehab or us ghosting permanently. That was the Mr. Hyde. The Dr. Jekyll was our favorite person in the world. We adored him. The world adored him. He adored us. He had been doing well across the country, I thought. There were clues though. Working and not going to therapy was a big red flag. A relapse in the spring was another. I knew he wasn’t ready to come home, and I wasn’t ready for him to come home, because of my own issues. But I wanted us. We were so much better in our interactions. We were healing, slowly. I kept the faith. I could feel him slipping from me though, somehow. Anyway, 8 months into his stay, a few weeks ago, we had a text argument. He said he wanted to come home. I was cold, unkind, harsh in my truth. He said he was hurting, he needed a friend... I apologized for not being who he needed me to be in that moment, told him if he needed anything to let me know. He said “ok.” 36 hours after I last heard from him, I got a call from the coroner. Our whole world shattered. 2 of our kids are old enough to remember all the best and worst times, and one is just grasping the concept of loss. And now I’m here. I’ve written this story a million times, deleted it... but my friend said reach out. So maybe one of y’all can help me make sure I do right by my brilliant, beautiful children who have been through a lifetime’s worth of trauma in a little bit of time. For us. For their dad who was dealt a terrible hand and forged an amazing life for himself anyway, but who fell to his illness. Sometimes these children are so angry. I know it’s normal, but it’s hard to manage “I hate my dad/you/my sibling” energy when I am grieving myself. And part of my grief is the deep seated anger I’m still holding, the anger that clouded my love, that complicates my grief. I am working so hard to keep us from going down the path of anger and violence. It killed their dad, in the end. Drunk, he swung at a stranger and fell, hit his head. It almost killed me, before I sent him away. I’m so triggered when I see my kids reflecting behavior they learned from our interactions as parents. I’m sick with guilt but I’m committed to doing what I can to reverse that learning. first thing is putting on my own oxygen mask. I’m the most functional fuckup I know. And I’ve had some big fuckups this year so I know I’m off track. I want to wake up and do yoga and draw and read good knowledge and make myself beautiful instead of waking and baking and chain smoking cigarettes and reading trash on the internet. I have so far been my own biggest obstacle, and I am a formidable opponent. i have an appointment with a grief counselor this week. Congratulations, you read this whole saga. Thanks! Bueller? Anyone?