Single Mom
Being a single mom is no joke. I have three boys ages 6, 5, and 3. My kids are with me Monday - Friday and every 3rd and 5th weekend. Their dad has them Friday afternoons to Sunday afternoons and that's it. I am an accountant so I am in the middle of busy season trying to work extra hours. This is the first year of everything so I couldn't get my kids into all of the daycare (the wait list is a year long) so I'm dependent on his parents to help me. I am stuck in this tiny little town where he grew up and everyone knows him and my family are in South Carolina. He is verbally and emotionally abusive to me. Constantly. He is trying to turn my 6 year old against me. While his parents love me and want to support me, they enable him. They take care of everything for him and try to tell me how he is "getting better" and "being a better dad." While my kids tell me that they spend zero time with just him, his brother or his brother's girlfriend or his parents are always there too. And my 6 year old tells me about how he took care of the 3 year old when he cut his finger because dad didn't want to get up. And I'm sorry, but I just don't think you can be a good parent if you are abusive to the other parent.
I feel so overwhelmed. I feel so behind at work and I feel so torn because if I need extra time at work I have to depend more on his parents. Or just give up sleeping altogether and work all night long.
Does this ever get any easier?
8 comments posted: Monday, February 13th, 2023
Struggling
It's been a while since I've posted on here. I've been making so much progress. We are continuing to move through the divorce process, even though STBXH is making every single step as hard as possible. We just went back to court because he objected to the child support amount. But I have been putting my new life together. I am working full-time and have my kids on a schedule of school/daycare. I am back in contact with my family and that feels amazing. My family now has a relationship with my kids. I am feeling more independent, and I no longer miss STBXH. I never thought I'd be able to say that. I am still sad of course, but I no longer miss him specifically. Honestly, with how he acts now I am embarrassed that I was ever married to him in the first place. Looking back now I am able to see how abusive the relationship was, and how I completely lost myself. Its scary how I didn't see it at the time. I feel like I've woken up again, finally starting to feel like myself again. I still have days where I think about something from our relationship and it dawns on me how messed up it really was, but at the time I didn't see it.
I've been doing so well and I'm so proud of myself. But the last week I can feel myself closing down a little bit and getting sadder again. It's a lot of things hitting me at once:
1. My last D-Day was the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year, so I'm coming up to a my 1 year anniversary of that. For me, I had tried R after I found out about his first affair, and I told him and myself that I wouldn't do it again. So when I found out about the second affair I knew in that moment that my marriage was over. It came crashing down on me and it was traumatic. I'm sure many of you can relate to that.
2. This will be my first holiday season alone. Last year, even though we were separated for Christmas, he didn't actually move out of the house until January, he was only sleeping in a different room, and we hadn't explained anything to our kids yet.
3. Thanksgiving will be my first holiday without my kids. For Halloween, I at least got to see them a little bit and we went trick or treating to our neighbor's house before I dropped them with dad. For Thanksgiving, they go to dad's house on Wednesday so I won't see them at all on Thanksgiving. My plan is to kind of ignore the holiday altogether. I've had invitations from friends to go to their homes, but I feel like being around other families will just make me feel worse that I'm not with mine. So I'm going to spend the day working, then put up Christmas decorations and try to pretend its just another day.
4. We are trying to wrap up the divorce. We've sent the first proposal for settlement. Even though I want it to be over, its still emotional to be at the end.
5. He is still emotionally and verbally abusing me every chance he gets.
So with all that going on, I'm struggling a little bit. I have lots to look forward to, and lots to be happy about. But I can't help the fact that every time I'm alone I just want to cry.
7 comments posted: Friday, November 18th, 2022
Divorce Settlement
I apologize in advance, I'm sure this question has been asked many times before. But I'm now getting to that *fun* time of putting together the first draft of the divorce settlement. Besides child support and custody/parenting schedule, what do you all suggest I put in it?
I know I already want to put in a detail that says all extra activities are split 50-50 (camps, sports, ect.) Is there anything else that I should think about?
TIA!!
4 comments posted: Monday, October 3rd, 2022
I want to punch his face in... so I'm posting here instead
Yesterday evening I picked up my three boys from STBXH. My oldest is almost 6 and has been really struggling lately because he doesn't like school. Coming home to me means he has to go to school, so he gets very upset and wants to stay with dad. On top of the fact that dad is gone Monday-Friday and doesn't even call anymore so he just misses his dad. So when my son was getting in the van he was starting to cry. STBXH tried to comfort him, and STBXH was getting upset and I could see his eye tearing up a little. In my mind, I was thinking stop dragging this out, it's making it worse! But then STBXH whispered "I did a disservice to him by having kids at all knowing how I am." I was flabbergasted. Thank GOD that my son was crying too much and didn't hear him. I told him to not ever say anything like that again next to MY SON and to get out of my van. He got mad and told me to F off because I have no room to talk because I bring them around my family (long story there, he isolated me from them during our marriage and I have since reconnected). I just told him again to get out of my van and I drove away.
I got the boys home without them really noticing anything had happened. And then it sank in even more what he said RIGHT NEXT TO HIS SON! I want to call him up and scream at him and punch him in the face. How dare he say something so abhorrent when his kids could hear??? He only cares about himself and its disgusting.
Thanks for letting me vent.
7 comments posted: Tuesday, September 27th, 2022
Kids missing other parent
Hey everyone,
It's been a while since I've last posted. I'm still trying to get through the divorce process. For about a month and a half STBXH was acting like a normal person. I was letting my guard down and starting to believe that we may actually be able to coparent. Then things didn't go his way so he took it out by yelling at me. I'm tired of being his emotional punching bag. I should have just hung up the phone. Usually I do. But I lost it and I yelled back at him. I'm working on getting better at not engaging him. I had been doing really well at it, and that's part of what upset him. He can't stand the gray-rocking. He takes it as a direct offense if I am not telling him that he is awesome and amazing and so generous and so kind. Because in his mind he is all of those things and more. And I am the c*** who is just bitter and a gold-digger. For those of you not familiar with my story, he has very strong narcissist traits. I have only been able to see in the last few months how controlling he really was in our marriage. Since our separation he has become verbally and emotionally abusive to me. He is a bully who sees himself as a savior. He is constantly up and down. One minute he will tell me that he will always love me and always take care of me. 30 seconds later he will tell me I am incapable of taking care of myself and of making any money. He will tell me I am pathetic and weak for reconciling with my family who he had isolated me from. He will tell me that I was a horrible wife and its my fault that our relationship failed. He was so unhappy because I was such a shitty wife.
So that's what I'm dealing with from him. But at the same time, my kids see him as superman. He is the biggest, strongest, greatest man on earth. I encourage this. I want them to have a great relationship with their dad, and I'm happy if he is going to be a good dad for them. If just breaks my heart that when I drop them off on Friday afternoon they are besides themselves excited to see him, then when I pick them up on Sunday they are dragging their feet and don't even give me a hug. Plus now ever since school started, my 5 year old cries and tells me that he misses dad and wants to stay with him. MY head tells me that he doesn't mean it. I know my baby loves me. I know its because dad is gone most of the time and so my 5 year old does miss him. I know all of this. But it still hurts. All I hear all week is how great dad is and how much he misses dad. How much better dad is than me. How do you all cope with this?
11 comments posted: Monday, September 12th, 2022
Texting
We got into a fight today over text. I enrolled my two younger sons into daycare this weekend. I was a stay at home mom before this, and now they are going to go to daycare. And the amount of rage I feel at that is unreal. I am so furious that I don't get to be with them all day anymore. That I don't get to be the one to take care of everything for them. That someone else is going to be raising my babies.
I couldn't take it anymore. He said something about the affair being my fault because I was a shitty wife and I lost it. I went off on him with my truth. How I was pregnant and he put our baby's life in danger. How I was carrying everything and had begged him for help and he never did. How I was battling post partum depression and was afraid to tell him because I didn't want to add to his stress. How he was never there for me. He said some ugly things back of course, that's what he does.
I shouldn't have done it. I know better! New contact = new hurts. And he gets to hurt me with the new shit he said to me. Even when I feel like I'm standing up to him, it's pointless. He's not going to hear me. Even if he did, it would be for a half an hour and then he'd be back to blaming me. On some level, I think that in my mind, fighting with him at least keeps some kind of connection between us. How messed up is that? That I want to keep that connection between us even if its only through us fighting. Because I've been making so much progress on letting go. But to cut that last little bit is still so hard. To accept that even though we have kids together, we don't have a special bond anymore. That he is not my person. That I really do need to let go.
Maybe I just wanted him to know how mad I am. I've mostly kept my cool with him through this whole process. I haven't really shown him my rage. He even now will say things to try to get sympathy and I'm sick of it. I don't feel sorry for him, he's the one who caused this! And I'm in way more pain than he is.
3 comments posted: Monday, July 18th, 2022
First Court Date
We finally have our first court date coming up on Wednesday.
For a quick quick background: I found out about my STBXH's second affair in November 2021. I had previously found out about another and we tried for R, but obviously that didn't last because he was having his second affair at the same time. I told him right away in November that I was done. He moved out in January, and we've been sharing custody of our children since then.
Anyway, for the point of this post. Lately I had been making a lot of progress on myself and with healing. I felt like I finally admitted to myself that I didn't want STBXH back. Even if he turned around and worked on himself and begged me for another chance, the answer would be no. It should be an easy decision with everything he's put me through, but it's been hard to get there. It's me being able to accept that we will never be back together and that the future I dreamed of is never going to happen. There will be new dreams and a new future, but it will be different from what I expected.
Now, however, with the court date coming up, I feel like I am right back on that emotional roller coaster. The fear, the anxiety, the tears, and the depression are all back in full force. I am hardly keeping it together! We're meeting with a court referee who will decide things like custody and support for the time until we get a finalized divorce. My lawyer will be there with me and she's not worried. For me though, it's incredibly emotional. It's a very big step in making this divorce real. After this I assume we'll start the negotiations of the actual divorce agreement. It's hard for me to explain what I'm feeling in words, its so complicated. It's 5000 different emotions all at the same time.
Has anyone else felt this way once things have really gotten set in motion? I guess it's one thing to think about the divorce in abstract and to start to accept it. But it's another when it's actually happening and becoming real. At least for me. No part of me wants to stop the divorce. But I'm still devastated.
3 comments posted: Monday, July 11th, 2022
Wins!
I had two big wins for myself today (and last night)!
1. Last night I slept on my STBXH's side of the bed for the first time.
2. My STBXH installed our dishwasher about a year ago and rigged it together. It took him hours upon hours, days upon days and soooo much frustration. I was afraid to talk to him he was so mad at it. Our kitchen flooded so many times before he finally got it together. It held up until now, but today it started leaking. So I went over to Home Depot and had someone help me get everything I needed and explained what to do. Then I went home and I fixed it in about 45 minutes.
They sound small, but we all know its the small ones that hit home sometimes and these were huge for me! I feel on top of the world!!!
Share your own wins, let's cheer each other on!!
11 comments posted: Monday, June 20th, 2022
Kids want to go to Dad’s house
How do you all deal with when the kids want to go to the other’s house?
My kids are 2, 4, and 5, all boys. Right now their dad has them over the weekend, I have them during the week. We are still early in the divorce process and have no written custody terms.
My house has remained as normal as I can do. Same rules apply, bedtimes, mealtimes, snacks, baths, the whole thing. His house is a different story. As far as I can tell it’s pretty much a free for all. McDonald’s weekly. Chuckie Cheese weekly. Stay up watching tv until you sleep, sleep wherever you want. Giant water slide bouncy castle outside.
I’ve heard in the long run they will see through all that. That I should do my best to stay stable and keep the discipline as normal. I told myself that they’re so young, they don’t mean to hurt me when they say they want to go over there. That it’s even a good thing because I want them to have a good relationship with their dad. But ever since summer break started it’s been everyday that they want to go over there, all three of them. And it really hurts.
I guess I’m looking for people who have been in my shoes. Give me some hope?
38 comments posted: Friday, June 10th, 2022
20 steps back
I think some of you know my story, I've had a few posts to check.
I thought I was making so much progress. I hired a lawyer, I filed for divorce. I was feeling better leaving my kids with STBXH, and actually surprising myself by enjoying some of my time alone. I was still feeling uneasy not having the kids around, but less so. When we first separated I had this feeling that I wasn't allowed to go do things, be out of the house too long, ect. Because I was so used to having to get right back home to take care of the kids. I was making so much progress in feeling less anxiety about that. Then shit hit the fan in a bad way.
I don't really have the emotional bandwidth to go into all of it. But long story short, he showed violence for the first time. He broke down a door at my house. My kids and I weren't present at the time, but we came home and found it. It really really scared me. I didn't think he was capable of violence towards me. This might sound like just a door but it felt personal. He broke it, then came back and broke it a second time. My lawyer told me to get a PPO (personal protection order) so I did. I feel guilty about it but I was so scared guys. The next time I saw him he had so much rage in his eyes when he looked at me. So much disgust. He said such nasty things to try to hurt me (this was after he broke the door, but before I got the PPO).
So fast forward to today. PPO has been served. Divorce papers have been served. I go to pick up the kids (the PPO allows for some contact because we have kids together), and he's trying to talk to me. He says that he's legitimately concerned about me because his lawyer says that the divorce papers that we served him are a mess and that my lawyer must not know at all what shes doing, and that he'll be able to have exactly what he wants no problem. He's looking at me wanting to make sure that I'm not being taken advantage of. And then saying that no matter what is written and agreed to that he's going to take care of me financially because he doesn't want the kids to have to go to daycare. Then 30 seconds later he's telling me that his lawyer is aggressive and he's going to be coming at me hard, but its ok because its just on paper. In real life he's gonna take care of me so he's still the good guy. Then he slips and calls me babe. And I about lost it and started crying in front of him which I haven't done in months.
It hasn't even entered his mind that I don't want him to take care of me. I want to take care of myself! I want to be independent from him. I don't want to depend on him because he's not dependable. I want him to pay his fair share (child support), and I will work part-time to make up the rest of what I need and that's it, end of story. Separate lives. I think that he thinks I'm not capable of taking care of myself. That I have no chance.
I have been verbally and emotionally abused by him since January. It's fucking with my head. I love him and I miss him and I hate him and I never want to have to talk to him again. It hurts too much to see him. On the weekend that I had the kids, he had his AP and her kids over to his place, riding the four-wheeler up and down the street for everyone to see. He's moved on and replaced me. He's trying to blame the fact that my oldest son is having a hard time adjusting to all of this on me. He is literally scolding me through text like I'm a child.
I don't know what to do any more. I feel like I've lost all the progress I had made. This weekend I was back to feeling anxious the entire time. Felt like I was doing something wrong any time I left the house. I feel lost and lonely. I feel powerless. I know I need to turn to God, He will protect me. But it's hard.
I just want it to be over. I want the divorce to be over and decided. I want to have some kind of routine where he feels settled enough to just leave me the hell alone. We'll do pick up/drop offs for the kids and that'll be our only contact. I want to stop hurting.
20 comments posted: Sunday, May 22nd, 2022
Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Without going too much into detail, I’m about 4 months out from the latest d day. We separated when I found out. He’s been moved out for about 3 months now. He picks up our kids and has them over weekends.
I still cry myself to sleep. I don’t want R. I know that that’s not possible, we’d just end up in the same position. And I know I can’t look past everything he’s done. There’s been so much and I’m still finding out new things even now. I’m just so hurt and betrayed and I feel so much anger and rage. And I’m exhausted by it. I just want it to stop. I want to be done with the pain.
I don’t know what I’m looking for here. I guess to know that I’m not the only one who’s felt this way? Maybe looking for hope that someday I won’t be feeling like this. I keep going for my boys, but it’s so hard. How long will I be this broken?
30 comments posted: Monday, April 4th, 2022
It's actually happening
This is going to be a long one. I can't sleep, I need to get this out.
Backstory - DDay1 was back in February 2020. WH had been having an affair for about a year. It had started before I got pregnant with our third child. Continued through my (rough) pregnancy. We tried to R, I went straight to wanting that without fully processing everything. We did fake R as he never stopped contact with the AP. Then we started for real.
DDay2 was the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2021. Another affair, new AP, had been going on for 6 months. (There had been other women too, but he says he only talked to them, never met in person. Like I can believe that.) So we had been in "real" R for about a year give or take before he started cheating again. Both times I found out, then he confirmed it. He never just confessed. This time I didn't even consider R. I knew I couldn't do it. He had me so fooled that we were in R. I wanted so badly to be happy, and he gave me just enough to give me hope. He'd be distant, but then plan a weekend away for the two of us. We weren't having as much sex, but when we did he would initiate about half the time. I really thought we were going to get through it and be happy again. I was so proud of us.
Now I don't recognize the man standing in front of me. I am a stay at home mom. From the beginning, he has said that he wants to continue to provide, let me still be a stay at home mom, at the very least until our youngest goes to school in a few years. He's promised to never abandon me, to always take care of his family. We agreed that we wouldn't officially divorce right away, so that I could stay on his insurance. He opened a new bank account for himself. He split his direct deposit so half went to his account and half to mine. We were going to be married on paper, but have separate households and act like we were divorced. I should mention his job keeps him traveling. He's only home on the weekends.
I'm not stupid. I knew that there would be fights. We're both so emotional right now. But I told myself to wait it out and let the dust settle. To give this arrangement at least a month or two before I decided anything. He only finally moved out last weekend. I make so many excuses for him to myself. When he gets angry and says things to me, I tell myself that he's hurting too. And he comes back in 5 minutes and apologizes. There was a part of me that still believed we are soulmates. That even if he moves out and even if it takes a few years, that he would work on himself and we would find our way back to each other.
I no longer believe that. He has started to become emotionally abusive. He threatens to become financially abusive. He is showing signs of being controlling. I feel like I have entered this other reality where everything is wrong. It's like a fricken Lifetime movie. This is not my life. This is not my husband.
He has told me that everything is my fault. That he has been hurting for four years and I didn't help him. That I didn't see it and I didn't help him. That I wasn't a good enough wife. Or mom. Or homemaker. I didn't make good enough dinners. I didn't just sit with him and scratch his back and wait for him to open up. I didn't make him feel wanted. He never felt loved by me. That this other woman makes him happy.
He apologized and cried a few hours later.
I have emails to two attorneys to have consultations. I intend to file for divorce this week before I lose my nerve. I am terrified. I am terrified of so many things. I'm ashamed to say it, but I am terrified of his reaction. It's going to hurt him. After everything he's done, and I'm still worried about him, about how this is going to destroy him. I'm stronger than he is. I'm going to be ok. He's not going to be able to handle this. And he's going to try to bring me down and hurt me for it. Not physically. There have been no signs of that. I think he's too proud to do that, it would hurt his reputation, his image of being the good guy. The guy who leaves his bitch horrible ex-wife but still pays her bills so she can be a stay at home mom. In his house. With his money. Where he still makes the rules and has all the control.
These are facts. This is what is happening. But putting it in black and white like this makes him look like a monster. And I haven't even said everything. There is so much more. So much more hurt. And pain. And betrayal. But I still love him. And when I see him fall apart I am still worried about him. I think he is in the middle of a breakdown. He's not mentally stable. He's in so much pain. I worry about him. Even though he doesn't worry about me.
I feel paralyzed and empowered at the same time. One minute I feel in control and that everything is going to be ok. The next minute I feel like I can't file for divorce, that's just not something I can do. It's just not who we are. Even though it is.
I'm just rambling. My thoughts are so scrambled. This is more a journal than anything else I guess. I just have to get it out. I don't know what to do with myself. I can't sleep. I can't think about this. It's too much. I don't even know how to describe what I feel. Shock. I've been shaking all day, I can't stop. I want to wake up from this nightmare. And as I'm typing this he texts me and says how sorry he is for everything he said today. And that he loves me. It makes me want to believe him. It makes me not want to hurt him. It makes me not want to file. But I have to. I hope that he can understand and one day not hate me for it. I hope one day I will be ok with the fact that he does hate me.
11 comments posted: Sunday, January 23rd, 2022
Just Beginning this Process
Hello, like the title says, I'm just beginning this process. DDay 1 was February 2020. Affair for about a year. False R for a few months while he was still seeing the OW. Then started real R in June 2020. I thought we were going strong and making progress. I was so cocky about it. I thought we were doing amazing, I was so proud of us. Then DDay 2 was 11/28/21, about a week ago. Affair for 6 months with a new OW. This time she has kids who he's met and spent time with. Her kids are older, 12 and 13, and she's divorced. As far as I know she thought he was also divorced and now that she's found out she's stopped seeing him. But I don't know that for sure. I don't know that she hasn't forgiven him; she could still be talking to him and taking him back for all I know. I don't know what to believe anymore, there have been so many lies. He had me fooled so well.
So anyway, that's the quick very of the story. I can't do R again. I told him that we're over, that I'm done. We have three boys together (5, 4, and 2). He travels for work during the week so he's not home, but he hasn't moved out yet so he stays in the boys' room on the weekend. He's looking for a house or apartment to rent.
I find that I'm way more sad/deeply depressed then I am angry. I feel like I'm not doing this right; that I'm supposed to be more angry. That I'm supposed to be screaming at him every time I see his face. I just feel so lost.
I've talked to a lawyer and explored all of that. But for the sake of health insurance I think we're going to do separation instead of divorce, at least until our youngest starts school. I am a stay at home mom and WH says he wants to continue to provide and let me continue to do that, at least until youngest starts school in a couple years. Maybe that's naïve of me, I really have no idea. I'm honestly just trying to take a minute before I figure everything out. I'm still processing that this is even happening to me. It hasn't all settled in yet and become fully real.
8 comments posted: Tuesday, December 7th, 2021
