I’m running away tonight. At least that’s how I feel right now. I can’t get out of the house fast enough. I’m meeting a friend/former colleague for dinner tonight and am so geeked to finally catch up with her! We have a lot in common and have similar life situations, and find ourselves chatting up every topic under the sun.
I feel furiously angry at the moment, and I’m sitting alone in our bedroom while husband has the kiddo at the playground, trying to process my fucking rage. He was on a business trip this past week. Left last Sunday, and he got home Friday night around 6PM…just in time for him to change into the costume I laid out for him for a friend’s birthday / Halloween party. I’ve managed the household by myself this entire week, which included 2 days of offsite workshops for MY job, which resulted in 3 hour round trip commutes those 2 days (the norm is less than an hour).
He’s been gone all week, barely got home in time for us to head out the door and go somewhere else. He’s had to do none of the work related to our family. No uninterrupted sleep because the kiddo woke up crying or the dog decided to make you his pillow at 3AM. No litany of chores to do before even walking out the door to go to work. Then heading into a job that is so ambiguously vague and with a boss who doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, just to up the anxiety and frustration levels I was already feeling at home. I sobbed Tuesday morning before work, because I was tired and felt like I was running on fumes, and was trying to figure out how mentally I was going to make it through another shitty day.
We had a great time last night, but I feel like it all dissolved this morning. Our child woke up at 5:30AM. When I saw the monitor, she already had her bedroom light on and had toys out and was playing. No going back to sleep for mom. My hubby ended up sleeping until almost 9AM. This afternoon he left 20 minutes before she woke up from her nap (both her and I were asleep), and was gone almost 2 hours running errands all by himself.
He couldn’t figure out why I didn’t want to take our kid and the dog for a walk by myself, without him. I suggested a family walk and he agreed, but then said he had to poop. I sighed in frustration, because the family walk would have to wait until his leisurely shit was done. He jumped down my throat about how he can’t even take a poop without me getting pissed.
It’s not that. It’s not the poop itself, it’s the cumulative pile of shit. It’s the build up of frustration of me having no one to tap out to all week, and then continuing more of the same over the weekend. When I thought it’d be my turn to get a break. When I thought him coming home would bring some kind of relief.
What I really wanted was for him to say, “Let me get up with her since you’ve been holding down the fort all week.” All I heard was his snoring beside me as I got out of bed. All I wanted was for him to ask, “How can I help you unwind after this week?” All I wanted for him was to think of me and how he could help relieve some of my frustration or irritation. What I wanted is a little bit of the reprieve he had this week, being on his own. I wanted a little bit of equality.
So yes, I’m totally fucking running away tonight. Even got my running shoes on.
What No One Told Me 