Wow how insulting and you have no right
]]>Galex – What an eloquent response!
I hope more and more people can better understand the mental health of everyone in the family is much more important than just biting your tongue and acting like everything is perfect.
]]>No one makes this kind of decision lightly; I certainly didn’t. My desire to stay married was forged in a deep commitment to the health of the whole family and the recognition that I needed to leave was made under the weight of the same commitment.
I’m not public about the details except with a few trusted friends. But the larger issue was that the choices my spouse was making were incommensurate with that of a modern partnership. And, I was increasingly concerned that our children would believe that this was a model they should follow. I’ve been very intentional about staying away from a narrative of victimhood. While I am not happy with this where we ended up, I’m careful about how I communicate that because I don’t want my children to believe that divorce simply equals failure or that I have been simply wronged. What that means is that I have fits of sobbing and cursing into my pillow and with my therapist, but that my adult face is one of determined commitment to the changing shape of my family. Sometimes that means I overcompensate when my husband and I are together with the kids–the voice is too lilting, the smile a bit too wide, the insistence that “I’m actually very happy with my life though sad about this turn, no regrets” a tad rushed–but that’s all because it’s not my children’s job to be the adults and nurse my feelings. It’s my job to take care of them. And that doesn’t mean staying in a relationship that is unhealthy but modeling a commitment to mental and emotional health through the rough moments in life.
So best wishes to you in this stage of your life and in this stage of the year. Both pregnancy and the holidays come with a welter of emotions and expectations, I feel the ups and downs acutely. Ready for a new year.
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