I’ve already expressed to three people today – three of whom may even be reading this; HI women! – so I’m not sure what good it will do to say it once more – a hope for some sort of throwing it into the universe and letting it go, I guess. I’m just so angry with Alex for not having worked since May. He is doing a smidge of editing for someone, but basically hasn’t worked for six months. His excuse is that he’s leaving for Africa “any moment”, even though by now he should realize that this job just gets pushed back ad nauseum. He could be delivering pizzas, for pete’s sakes. He could have raked old people’s yards. Hell, he could have raked all of my yard! I’m not looking for big bucks from him on a short notice. But it’s a matter of self-respect. He has these two kids. What does it say to them? When we got together, we bought into the 50/50 plan of marriage and parenting, and he’s holding on strong to it. You pay half; I pay half. And he is paying around half, if paying from loans and credit cards counts. There’s something, though, simply in his actions that doesn’t feel 50/50. And knowing that he’ll have loans to repay that will limit his ability to pay for stuff for the kids. I get so angry. It recalls all of the anger I carried around for the last two years of the relationship. Yet expressing it to him does nothing. It doesn’t effect change, it only makes the climate between us unpleasant. So I try to stay calm, like an iced over lake. Calm and cool. And underneath: a volcano.
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3 comments
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November 23, 2008 at 5:26 am
mpg
when you describe your situation, I feel at a loss for words. I feel your discontent, your frustration, I totaly understand and emphathize with you. It’s a mess. Alex is not taking care of business. He’s not doing his duty. He could work, even if he is leaving town. He could do some dirtball job, something to bring in money till he leaves. But you can’t make him do anything. Despite all that, you say he is contributing. He is coming up with the mortgage. Credit card debt or whatever, he’s supplying money, so try to go wiht that and forget about the source. It’s no good to fret over it; there’s nothing you can do to move him, so your best bet is to be civil and give up expecting him to be something he’s never been. Let it go. Why would he be any different now that you’re splitting? It’s not even reasonable to think splitting would somehow make him into an industrious person. How he’s acting is really what you should expect from him. Right?
November 24, 2008 at 3:06 pm
breakitup
I’m sure you have already checked the laws where you live to make sure that you are not responsible for any debt he is racking up – but just in case you haven’t… please make sure to do so.
With the economy the way it is, any able bodied man (or woman) that doesn’t go out and get a job to help out the family and make it more secure is in my eyes pathetic and incredibly selfish.
I get the anger – have been there are so have some of my friends. I have a friend and her husband hasn’t worked for about 5 years and we were talking about how much we spend on food and she was saying that she was watching him make a salad for himself and he dumped in practicly a whole can of roasted peepers, then a can of grape leaves, tomatoes, marinated artichokes, cheese, meat and so on…. and while he is doing this she is counting how much each thing costs and his salad totaled something like $15 easily. It pissed her off only because he is not bringing home the meat he is eating. She really was pissed that she should even have to get pissed at watching him make a salad for himself.
Michelle
http://breakitup.wordpress.com
November 24, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Michele B
Boy, I feel your pain. I am and have been the breadwinner for quite some time, and there’s a lot of resentment and anger that goes along with that. My divorce will be final this month and I will be paying child support until my kids are 18 I’m sure. We have 50-50 custody at this point.
I was referred to your blog by a mutual friend, and I can relate to a lot of what I have read so far.
I don’t know where you are in the legal process of the divorce, but I did successfully ask for his wages to be imputed since he can work but has chosen not to. This is basically the court assigning him a certain wage whether or not he actually earns it. By doing that it seriously reduced the child support I have to pay him. Have you looked into anything like that?