He says nobody makes him more crazy than I do. I’m just being me, and not conforming to the version of me he wants or needs me to be. He’s out there, alone in a house, by himself, without me by his side. He’s aching. He’s lonely. He can’t stand to be alone. It makes him crazy. It baffles him that I don’t understand how he feels (he thinks I don’t understand). It rips his heart up to know that I’m not going crazy with loneliness and separation. He may think that I love him less because I’m not missing him. But I’m going crazy on my own over here. My own version of crazy.
He has only himself to keep up with. When his work day is done, he can rest. I have children to care for. Every aspect of their precious little lives is critical to me, and right now, their emotional health is even more so. I remember being four and feeling like I was in the way. I remember being eight and feeling like I couldn’t do anything right. I remember, and those feelings, whether valid or not, contributed to the adult I became, and all of the emotional struggles I’ve dealt with along the way. I find myself starved for time, racing through each day trying to scrounge up enough to give them at least a little attention, trying to lovingly direct them and instruct them when they’re bouncing off the walls and the furniture. Literally. They are boisterous little boys, and it’s their unbridled joy at simply being that compels them to jump on the furniture and play and have fun. While I want them to respect property, I want to somehow teach them without squelching or scarring them. God grant me the wisdom and patience to do this. Truth be told, though, inside I rejoice that my boys exhibit such glee. In my heart I say, “GO AHEAD! Jump! Play! Laugh! Rejoice!” (Please don’t hurt yourselves or anything, and please be respectful of others’ things, but don’t stop rejoicing, my beautiful little boys.)
I am exhausted. It takes a great deal of time and energy to lovingly, patiently and kindly see to it that the teeth get brushed, the clothes get changed, the schoolwork gets done, and the bodies get clean. Life with my kids is my priority right now. They need me. I need them. I absolutely need to take this time for them and with them. I need this for them. I need this for me.
It doesn’t mean I love him less than I did before. It only means that I recognize now that far too often in the past year I’ve shuffled them aside in my endeavor to be a couple, and that is something that I should never have allowed myself to do, and something that I want to ensure does not happen again.
I’m going my own kind of crazy, wondering when and how I will ever have a little time to myself so that I can at least try to collect my thoughts and calm the storm that is raging in my head.