Anonymous wrote:When you can't seem to say, "I love you" back, look at your spouse in the eyes (or even at all anymore), and you find yourself having trouble wanting to put into practice suggestions and tips on how to improve your marriage from books.. is it over??
3 weeks ago I found a ton of misogynistic and sexual memes (including a r*pe meme) on my husband's chat with two of his family members (brother and BIL).
I was completely disgusted, disturbed, and disappointed.
For a week and a half, I kept quiet, thinking about what to do.
Finally after that time I couldn't keep faking it and confronted him about it.
He became dismissive and said they were just jokes and defended them, saying he wasn't a misogynist because of those memes.
Mind you, our marriage has sucked for a long time, at least 7.5 years not being well (married for 13, been together for 18 years).
He is always off doing his own hobbies, running out to get supplies for said hobbies, outside mowing the grass (I get it needs to be done, but he enjoys the time away from us), organizing the garage, up in his office or basically anywhere that me and the kids aren't.
When he is physically present, he is NEVER mentally present.
He is always in his phone or laptop, chatting with some co-workers (whom he just spent the whole day/week talking to) or chatting with other people he has befriended from Facebook groups or forums.
I have repeatedly begged, yelled, cried over this simple fact that he ignores me and the kids and prefers to form and maintain relationships with people who are not his immediate family members, all to no avail.
He rarely helps with the kids, and when he does, it's because I have asked over and over again until he finally does.
The times I have to leave the house, our kids won't be fed, or if they are, it's scraps or simple snacks they got themselves, diapers won't be changed, and naps won't be had.
He never bathes the kids, except the few times I insist because I am so exhausted (we have three kids, one of whom is a baby).
When he does clean them, it all ends in disaster with the two older kids screaming and crying. He yells too much at our kids, simply for being kids. Yes, they run and scream and are loud. Not my favorite either but I let them be a little crazy at times because they're having fun with each other.
I feed, bathe, clothe, teach, play, do bedtime, make/take to medical appointments, nighttime with the baby, manage the day-to-day ops of the house.
He works from home but is always burnt out at the end of his work day and immediately goes into his own time mode with his hobbies and chat and Internet surfing.
He has a spending problem and has had it for a decade. He has lied to me about the real cost of some items he has bought over the years. He spends money like we're retired after long careers.
Even after our talk a week almost two weeks ago, he still asked me if he could buy an item for $2k. I once again got upset but didn't show it because we were out with family but I told him how upset it made me feel when we got home.
The point of me confronting him was to let him know just how close I felt to leaving him. To my shock, he showed no emotion during the entire conversation (90 minutes), while I was crying at multiple points.
He also said that he understood and agreed with me leaving if that is what I decided to do. I was also very surprised by this reaction.
It just seemed like he didn't care.
He said he would immediately put into place changes with regards to helping out with the kids and would read one of the marriage books I got 7 years ago.
He eventually said he needed to poop (uh huh) so the conversation ended at that point..
The only noticeable thing I have seen since then is he sometimes makes the kids breakfast on the weekends (nothing fancy, microwavable and toaster oven foods).
He still yells too much, still asks to spend big money, still disappears for times, runs off on tangents trying to find items instead of helping me with the kids (I had a horrible day this past Tuesday in which I broke down at a medical appointment for my baby and even after I asked to have him help once work was done, he still left me for hours).
We both read the marriage book but what's scaring me is the fact that I don't even know if I *want* to try and put these strategies into practice.
He still gives me hugs and says, "I love you" to me frequently but all I can seem to do is say, "yeah" or "yup" or "uh huh" back.
When I do say it to him it is reflective only, but I have noticed I only say it when I'm on the phone with him when he calls me.
It really feels strictly going through the motions.
I just don't know how to "move past" the horrible things I saw from him, because I feel like everything he does or says now has been painted with this sh!t. In the back of my mind, he still truly believes all the stuff he sent and I'm not sure I can "get over it."
My trust in him was nearly non-existent before this, but now it has been shattered.
There's a lot more than just the above, but without writing an even longer post, I'll just stop here.
When did you know it was over for you? Was it a flashpoint event or was it a lot of little things that chipped away at the relationship?
A lot of women will not tell you the truth but unfortunately a lot of married man are this way. Dont say in such a marriage. Not uncommon at all for men to simply checkout of the marriage.