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[quote=Anonymous]Wife and I have been together for almost 5 years, we have a one-year old son and that part is awesome. He has been a blessing in our lives and his presence really has helped me with all facets of my life. We fight occasionally, and it gets bad quickly bc we both have bad tempers. We went together to a marriage therapist for several years that has helped curtail some of our previous bad habits, but we still break down into anger and sometimes violence toward one another.

A pattern that has emerged over the past several years between us is that one of us will voice a concern-and not always in the right tone or using the right language-and the other will react defensively. Generally it is me telling her something along the lines of "I really wish you would _ so that we could _". I try and not assign blame or responsibility on her for my feelings.  What generally happens is that she will get immediately defensive and start raising her voice, using personal attacks and countering what I say with "tit for tat" comments like, "well ya know, if you did _, we could do _". So around we go in circles with her increasing the vitriol and attacking, pushing, and taunting me. It feels like she doesn't respect me.

When she gets mad, she will tell me "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME" even though I definitely am and could basically repeat verbatim her words because she is screaming at me. And trust me, if I weren't interested in listening, I damn sure wouldn't be standing in the same room receiving her outbursts. As in many other aspects of our lives, there is no one that can convince her of anything that she already has her mind made up on. She is intractable and arrogant when she wants to be.

Why cant she say, "I don't feel like you are listening to me because _"?? Or something along those lines....rather than presuming I'm not listening when I've tried for years to be an attentive, engaged partner to her. Telling me I'm not listening is one way to ensure that I will stop listening.

She will yell with our son in the other room and then get mad at me for yelling back at her because our son is in the other room. It goes on and on like this, she generally always tries to badger me back into a fight after I've stopped talking.

The "you're not listening to me" piece is supremely annoying and frustrating, but what has become unacceptable after 5 years is the fact that in the middle of nearly every fight we get into, she bolts out the door, car keys and phone in her hands, and goes "driving around". I don't mind her getting out of the house for some air, but what about our discussion? what about our family unit? What about all the times before when she has admitted she was wrong for leaving and wouldn't do it again?

She has done it since we first got together-she just runs away from any problem, most of which she has created with her volatility and lack of emotional and impulse control. It makes me feel like some day she will just leave me and the boy and never come back, which at this point I wouldn't mind.

She gets to hijack the day and keep everybody in suspense because she is a manipulator and I don't know what to do with it or how to stand up to it. Yesterday she did it again, in the middle of a beautiful Sunday morning where we were going to do all sorts of family shit and have fun etc. She gets wound up, I fire back at her defending myself and my actions, and she bails out of the house without saying a word. She left me and our boy there looking at each other like WTF?! So I lost my cool and I started packing a bag and reserving a hotel and packing up his stuff for a few days away. I texted her and said we were leaving for a week. She came home eventually and ignored all of the messages voicing my concern (she always does this, too, avoids the messages) and spent the whole day acting like we didn't exist.

My boy and I had a blast, doing all the things she always talks about doing and then never actually wants to do. We went to the orchid blossom show at the Botanical Garden, walked around the capitol, and went to Kenilworth Aquatic gardens for a picnic lunch and a walk around. It was really an incredible bonding moment for me and him, one I'll never forget, and I'm sad that it had to come from such an ugly circumstance that I cant help but think that she created.

I think I'm finally seeing that she is a bully and she will always leave like this and nothing will ever change with her until she actually wants to change. Am I crazy to think that she cares more about herself and her emotions more than anything else, including her marriage and her baby?

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