Friday, April 22, 2011

THE ULTIMATE TURNING POINT



So a few days ago I noticed what I thought was a discrepancy in the months' cell phone bills, which I am usually responsible for distributing amongst my family who I share a family plan with. That prompted me to go into the usage of each cell phone line. In so doing I noticed that my husband was carrying on texting with several specific numbers throughout the day and at wee hours of the morning. I became very curious and decided to call those numbers to find out what was going on. Of course, no one actually picked up the phone lines, but the common thread among them all were that the voicemails were that of females.

So to make a long story short, I received the following text yesterday:

Texter: Hey, do I know you? I saw you called me

Me: Sorry, wrong #

Texter: Its okay...I cant help but ask, are you married to Gene by any chance?

Me: I am.

Texter: I dont want to be disrespectful but im a christian woman and im honest. I met your husband at work, he approached me as if he was single and as a woman I felt like I should tell you that hes been trying to get with me romantically/sexually. we talked outside of work once and nothing happened, he told me he was married and getting a divorce soon. But even still, i didn't want to put myself in that situation. So i left it at that. He hits me up on my phone but i avoid him. I just felt like i should tell u, even if it was true about the divorce. Its still wrong.

Me: Thank you for your honesty and candidness. I am actually recovering from a C-section with his 3rd child from last Monday. Also as a Christian woman, I sensed something has been very wrong with him. I hate that he put you in that situation but am happy God has given you the grace to go through it unscathed. God bless and thanks again.


I actually confronted him about this and he responded by saying that I was coming at him and not giving him a chance to speak (i.e. blowing smoke to avoid the line of questioning). He was stumbling and accusing me of already having made up my mind about what happened and that I certainly didn't think he was dumb enough to carry on something like this knowing I had access to his phone records. He claimed what I was saying was ultimately bogus. The more he spoke, the more it became difficult to believe him. At the very least, he should have been able to explain to me why he was having these back and forth texting conversations literally from 10AM or even with some of them as early as 5 in the morning until late into evening! Back and forth texting (and in some cases: actual phone calls) with these women! What were they saying to each other? Even on the evenings as I lay, unable to sleep due to intense labor pains, my husband was texting these women!

When I asked him how he would feel about my doing the same, his response was, "To be honest with you, I wouldn't care!"
What ultimate betrayal. When I told him how he has put me through so much crap the past 3+ years of our marriage, he claimed that everything was mutual. That I treated him as just as bad. REALLY? COULD HE HONESTLY SIT THERE WITH A STRAIGHT FACE AND SAY THAT?

This has been the ultimate breaking point for me. I feel like there is nothing left. I feel like our marriage vows have been soiled. I told him that we would have to take this before family, and/or our pastor, as there was nothing left for us to discuss. He wasn't providing me with straight answers and I felt as if we were going nowhere.

I am sitting here crying as I am writing this...once again crying. That's the theme of my life these days. I am tired from sleep deprivation, from once again shouldering responsibilities that my husband is oblivious to! My mother shouldn't be the one to take care of my children literally from sun up to sun down while my husband is "out and about" while I am healing from this C-Section. He should be here! He should be taking more responsibility...but he has failed and continues to fail at this.

I literally want to pack my children up and run away with them...run away from it all. I can no longer bear it. I can no longer bear the pain. This physical pain pales in comparison to the pain I have been suffering in this marriage.

What is left to hold on to? Lord help me find my way...I am utterly lost and cannot find my way!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Turning Point

It has gone from bad, to the absolute worse! My husband has proven to me that he could care less for the woman he calls his wife. He claims that I am some horrible woman who "lacks respect", "doesn't allow him to be a man", "treats him worse than anyone" and all these other things, that when I sit down to really think about, is simply excuses for him to treat me the way he does. I have NEVER known a man to treat a pregnant woman as my husband has treated me throughout all 3 of my pregnancies, and our marriage, for that matter. I almost laughed when people were in shock, asking me if "I still drive" or "still work" or "still go to BJs to go grocery shopping"! As pregnant as I was, my husband made me drive to work, while he sat in the passenger seat sleeping every morning!

I have come to realize that my husband cares about himself primarily, and then our children, secondary. It's always about his school, and his finishing this program, and his needing a car, and his needing this and his not having that! He is constantly complaining about what "he" doesn't have. And it is maddening...as the person who is trying to make ends meet...trying to keep our head above water...how selfish his attitude could become!

His own family comments to me about how he is always hanging out at their house, or out with friends, leaving me behind with the children! I had one of his friends' girlfriend comment to me about how he is "always around" without me and without the children, hanging out with the "boys" and how she couldn't understand how I managed to do so much alone! When I confronted him about it, he said that if he could stay away even longer, he would. That shows you just how much he cares!

Two weeks before I was due (to have our 3rd child), my husband said to me, "Did you file our income taxes yet?" "I NEED MONEY TO PAY FOR MY SCHOOL!" I was so thrown by the statement that I actually wrote it down! He needed money to pay for "HIS" school. I knew that, I was working on it by working overtime for several weeks, right up to the week that I had the baby. Nevermind our family would be out of income, nevermind we needed money to pay rent, purchase groceries, pay the car note. It was all about him once again!

So here we are present day. I had the baby almost two weeks ago, a precious baby boy! I had to endure pain like you wouldn't believe. Through the horrible labor pains and through the entire ordeal, my husband has almost never inquired about my well being. It was fitting that my mom was in the operating room with me as I underwent a 3rd C-Section in 18 months. When he came to the hospital, it was simply to see the baby...he didn't bother to ask how I was feeling, how I was coping with the pain.

I am now staying at my mothers' house, as a recovery would have been nearly impossible with a 2 year old and 18 month old child. Thank God for my mother, who has taken some time off of work to help me. My husband clearly does not care to do so. When he comes to visit, he plays with the children for brief while, mainly watches TV and barely utters more than 2 words to me.
Despite my trying to not let my family see what has been going on between us, it has become very evident to them that our relationship is strained and that my husband does not appear to care about my wellbeing.

We are most certainly reaching a turning point for the worst...