Monthly Archives: November 2006

{inner circle} Hard stuff.

This weekend a couple of things have come up which have been hard. Ok, so one didn’t exactly just come up now, but it was focused on with great force.

In therapy we were talking about how upset I am about the upcoming trip to Texas to meet Noah’s parents. I had originally asked for us to stay in a hotel so we could have more autonomy but through a series of unfortunate events it sounded like we were going to be at the mercy of his mother and her whims for the entire trip. Being me I shut my mouth, gritted my teeth, and was trying to brace myself for the trip. But the anxiety was getting worse and worse and worse. I ended up crying through a lot of therapy because I just can’t bare to be at someone’s mercy like this. I am so freaked out about meeting them, period, that I just can’t be at her beck and call the whole trip or I will freak out. But I’ve been really afraid of talking to Noah about this so he’s been assuming that I was fine with the arrangement.

I finally talked to him yesterday in the midst of my panic attack about how upset I was. How most of the problem was the control. I can’t really handle not being in control of where I am and how I’m getting around. He listened really well. He was willing to do whatever I needed in order to make this situation one where I am not doomed to misery from the outset. Lots more talking later and we are renting a car and getting a hotel room for some of the trip. (During the rest we get to sleep in an out building with a lock on the door so his mother can’t come wake us up before we’re ready.) I’m feeling much better. I’m nervous about how his mom is going to take the news, but that is going to be better than the alternative.

I’m still having a hard time with my family, but that shocks no one.

And yesterday I sucked ass at holding boundaries. I was trying to be supportive of a friend and I did it in a horrible way for me. I let her think encouraged her to think that it would be just fine if she used Noah as her standing ego boost. I shouldn’t have. I should have told her, actually no… Noah isn’t doing that kind of thing right now–neither of us are. But I didn’t. And now I’m scared that I am going to have to say it at some point in the future. I’m having a pretty hard time with the fact that I can’t figure out how to hold the boundaries I think should be in place right now. It isn’t that I am trying to take Noah off the market completely and forever, but I think we should develop a ‘we’ before adding in the complications of other people. It’s hard enough to deal with my insecurities without there being a person to point at and feel insecure about. I think I can learn to be secure here, but I’m not there yet. But I also don’t want to present myself as his jailor. 🙁 I want to be the carefree openly sexual girl but right this minute I can’t be.

You think you’re living on the edge, but I think you’re hanging from a ledge

I’ve been on a real song kick lately. There are a handful of songs that I am listening to over and over. Kerosene, What About Georgia, Not Ready To Make Nice… All really good and interesting. But yeah. That’s an aside.

What I really want to post about is some of the lessons marriage is teaching me.

I am better off sleeping by the wall instead of the edge of the bed because that way I don’t kick my blanket off the bed. (This has just not been a problem before and I’m not sure why it has been lately.)
Everyone is happier if we have ice cream in the house.
It’s ok to say that something is hurting me without it meaning that he is bad and he understands that. It’s ok to say I’m not feeling happy.
It’s not a bad thing for us to have separate dinners.
He really is ok with going to bed early with me.
Maybe he does actually like me after all.

baggage (navel gazing)

Last night I cried the whole way home from work. Not from work stress and certainly not from any stress having to do with Noah. I was thinking about my family. When I got home I went into our bedroom and wrote a long letter to them. I don’t think I will send it until Mercury is no longer in retrograde though.

Thinking about it, I haven’t been properly attributing a lot of my upset lately. I’ve been feeling insecure about some of the poly stuff with Noah but I don’t think that is actually it. I’m hurting because of how my family treats me and that is trickling into everything else right now. I have every reason in the world to be secure in my relationship. I’ve also been looking back on archive stuff I wrote when I was with Tom. Holy crap. Wow that relationship was massively broken. I’ve been thinking about this because lately my memories have been very whitewashed. I tend to hold on to good memories and forget bad things. Tom only seemed so good because he was so much better than anything I had before that, but that doesn’t mean our relationship was actually “good.”

Wow. It is hard to believe how much better my life is now. And I am actually happier than I have been before. And realistically my life is going to keep getting better. Wow.

I am so lucky. I have the most amazing friends and the best husband ever. Ok, so I still feel unhappy about my family–but I have to keep that in perspective and not let it affect my perceptions of my life as a whole. Cause boy howdy my life rocks.

School babble (doubt anyone cares)

I’m irritated that a student told me about a huge school-wide testing thing next week instead of my administrator. Way to help me plan my classes!

I’m scrambling to get everything done for the rest of the unit. But, through front loading a bunch of scary things in the next few days I think my kids will have time to do everything they need to do. I will have 8 days to grade 120 essays before I run off to Texas for Thanksgiving.

At least it means that I have to have absolutely everything graded and done before the essay is turned in which means that my grades will be easy to make final when all I have to do is put the essay grade in the night before I fly to Texas. Sweet. Then I can come back without having to worry about anything on my plate.

My kids in third period told me it was really good to see me laugh today. I asked if I am usually in a bad mood and they said no. Apparently me being in a full on good mood is rare though. Hm. That’s less than optimal.

I have two vocabulary test sets to grade, a set of DJs (dialectical journals–a way of responding to quotes), and three more sets of reading quizzes. Luckily I will only have two more sets of reading quizzes in this unit and then the project and the essay. I can do this over the next two weeks…

(And the icon is cause I am teaching MLA this week. 🙂