I think i am doing this to get to know myself better..what I have learnt so far is that my patience is running out!

Friday, May 20, 2005

Thursday night - bad end to a good night

So dinner went down well with everyone. We'd drank some wine and in Ulri's case tea. No room for pudding - which was quite amazing hearing a 'No' from Ulri and my father!! She left about half ten and we started clearing up and getting ready for bed.
Once I thought I was on my own downstairs I thought I'd finish getting washed and ready for bed etc to music. We have speakers in the bathroom which is very cool when you want to sing along in the shower - good acoustics! So I lock myself in having picked up my phone cause it has been off all night and I wanted to check if Rose has got back to me as she was meant to phone me. I also hadn't worked out yet how to do reminders on my phone and that is a thing I use alot for work. So I was sitting on the loo, fiddling with the phone when out of the blue, Mark says 'I'm coming in' and with that unlocks the door using a knife.

I turn my phone off and put it in my pocket, thinking I can do the reminder thing some other time when he walks in with this wierd look on his face. 'Who are you texting?' he says. I said 'I'm sorry?' To which he replied, 'I thought I saw you through the glass door texting.' Now this really pisses me off as it suggests quite blatently that he has been spying on me, and of course is thinking the worst...whatever that is. I told him I was looking at the reminder thing on my phone and he said, 'I want you to be honest with me'. I was livid.
He went off to bed and I finished getting ready for bed. When I went upstairs he was just lying there staring into space. My thoughts....'here we go again'. He had been ok all week and then suddenly out of nowhere, something triggers it off again. He repeats what he asked before and I tell him, I wasn't texting. I couldn't be arsed to say exactly what I was doing because I felt I didn't have to justify my every move to him. So we turn our backs on each other and both pretend to go to sleep, only Mark's huffing and fidgeting doesn't make it so easy....but I don't want to listen anymore...am tired of it all and still angry.
In the morning, nothing has really changed. He is in tears saying that he is frightened that as soon as he does sort himself out, I will leave him....where did this shit come from? But he is also frightened of telling me too much because it may drive me away. I am too close to talk to. He needs someone from outside. I can only reassure so much. But I can only take so much. Luckily I am seeing Julian this morning and his wife is a counsellor who may know someone who can help. Here's praying...

Michelle...I need your help on this one.

Take care y'all.

4 Comments:

Blogger Mischa said...

((HUGS)) You have called and I have answered, dear lady.

That was an unbelievably crass and insensitive thing for Mark to do, and it really shows how deeply his trust and self-esteem issues run. As I tell my friends who are stuck in bad relationships over and over - without trust love cannot survive. If you are truly committed to Mark (and you need to search your own heart on that one) this is what I'd suggest:

From the limited information I have, it seems that all the recent problems stem from your blossoming physically and socially, making new friends and such. You absolutely deserve to do that - but you just need to bring Mark along so that he understands this new you. Not unlike what I have to do with my spouse as well. He has to understand that you view the marriage as a partnership that does not preclude maintaining friendships with others. Ask him if he really expects you to only talk to him all day, every day, for the rest of your lives? It's not healthy, and it's not realistic.

I think the reason he doesn't instinctively understand this is that he is the type of person who thinks every relationship progresses into love and desire, and we know that's not true. Unfortunately, that is a very male viewpoint, that you can't be just friends with the opposite sex because there will always be that sexual tension between you. I just don't think that's true - you can be lifetime friends with someone without ever having romantic feelings toward them. Human relationships are so complex, and it's easy to keep things in line when you have someone you truly love fulfilling their role in your life. Unfortunately, Mark is only undermining his own position acting this way, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy - he thinks you want to leave, he becomes suspicious of you, you feel untrusted and unloved, and you might then actually leave in fact. It's an unfortunate situation.

My suggestion is to definitely seek counseling and try to work this out with a third party mediator, because the way things appear, you two are having a communication breakdown that will preclude you being able to be open and honest with each other to deal with this yourselves. Perhaps Mark needs to start making some more friends of his own - does he have a lot of mates? He seems to confide in Ulri - although her loyalty is obviously to you so he would probably not confide in her about his true feelings for fear it would get back to you. I'm not suggesting that he go hang out in pubs meeting people, or you to introduce him to more people. He just needs to feel free to make friends if he so chooses. To tell te truth, I've a feeling he will not want to anyway, but it would be helpful I think for him to get some different points of view from people he trusts.

Let me know if all this makes sense. I'm kinda rambling - I just work up and now I'm gonna get ready for work. Talk to you later!

1:50 pm

 
Blogger Theresa Stancombe said...

You are my counsellor Michelle. Everything you say makes sense...even to Mark in a way...he nearly replied!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are a true friend.

7:00 pm

 
Blogger Theresa Stancombe said...

Michelle, I keep trying to read your blog but it always comes up with that page problem thing. Please don't feel I am not reading your blog...just can't get to it.

8:28 am

 
Blogger Mischa said...

I know, sometimes that happens to me with other blogs I read. It usually goes away if you give it a day or so. You seem to be the only one having that problem though, so maybe the distance has something to do with it.

8:13 pm

 

Post a Comment

<< Home