She called me again today

This time not so good. I tried to call her twice since we talked yesterday, but she wasn’t home. The calls showed up as private calls and she was curious/concerned if they were from me. I apologized and explained the reason I tried to reach her. Truth be told, if she hadn’t called me yesterday, I would have called her sometime this week anyway. Last week I had let pass a ‘special’ day in her/our life. I know she was anxious and concerned I’d be trying to contact her. I wanted to show her I was strong and I got through that day without any contact. Afterwards I was concerned that she might have been crushed and that’s when I decided I’d call her later this week to assure her how much effort it took on my part to stay away. Her call yesterday beat me to the punch. Although she wanted to thank me, I knew it was more for self-assurance when she told me how bittersweet that was for her.

Back to the reason why I tried to call her. I realize that I can never assure her I’ll stay away forever, and wanted to suggest to her that she could ‘de-fuse’ the desire with a phone call once a month or so. See, her number one concern is that I’ll call at the wrong time and her – always suspicious – husband will answer.* And because of that she always gets nervous when the phone rings when he’s home during the day. So if she initiates the call, that will never be a concern.** I just felt that it would give her the ability to finally relax each time the phone rang. It puts her totally in control. Unfortunately for both of us, she has been miserable and irritable since we last talked. Emotions she had hoped she had put in the past by moving on. Clearly that’s not something I want her to go through just so I can relinquish control over our situation.

As I acknowledged the pain I keep putting her through, and tried to reassure her that I will double my efforts to stay away, my voice became emotional. So did hers as she spoke over the top of mine saying “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t do this anymore”. She then hung up on me.

*I have always been prepared for that each time I’d call her with a fool-proof escape plan. I have never needed to use that in almost 8 years so it still remains an option.

** Please keep in mind that receiving one phone call a month is no where’s near something I find acceptable. Just hours after her last call I was missing her so much that it hurt. But it definitely is satisfying enough to last me several weeks.