Saturday, July 09, 2016

Cutting off Contact- AGAIN

I can't say it enough, how baffled I am that we are in this place. I find it immature, inconsiderate, and mostly just bizarre. The total and absolute lack of communication is so... confusing. It's just bizarre. Daniel and I had the most emotionally intimate and communicative relationship I had ever been in. But he won't communicate his needs to me now as a friend or acquaintance or past partner or whatever. Which would eliminate literally all of the drama we have experienced. ELIMINATE IT. There would be no drama! Why is there all of this unnecessary heart ache? This is so ridiculous!

Since Tootie died, I have had a huge resurgence of anxiety. I miss him, I feel terrible about what happened, and I have had some low level recurrence of my PTSD symptoms. I also started having some pretty awful stomach pains, which my initial thought might be kidney stones or gallstones,and after an ultrasound and exam and trying out some medication, we have decided it is gastritis brought on by stress. The pain started right after Tootie died. That I could be so physically affected makes me sad also.

Last night I could not fall asleep and was having anxiety and for whatever reason just felt mad and I texted Daniel. I think I sort of knew the message wasn't going to go through so it didn't really matter whether I texted him or not, I just finally had the balls to do it. So I texted him, "Why did you start being mean to me all of a sudden? What is up with that?!" And it never said delivered.

I have looked this up several times- something I have never ever looked up with another ex, which, that in itself bugs me, that my instinct is he would block me, even though I think that's wrong and I'd never do it unless I was being literally stalked, and even then, I probably wouldn't because I'd need evidence to file charges! What I have read is that there should be no evidence on the blocked person's phone that they have been blocked. It should appear as though the message was delivered. So i am puzzled as to why the message doesn't say it was. I guess he could have changed numbers or gotten a non-iPhone but I sort of doubt it.

Also the fact that the message delivery issue first happened that bizarre night when he texted me at my niece's engagement party that "I had mistaken him for someone who cares" (seriously, WTF) leads me to believe he sent that text message as a final knife and then blocked me so I wouldn't be able to respond- or so he wouldn't see my response.

I read back through my messages from the last 3 months, and if I try to step back, I can see them as somewhat annoying. I texted him about one message a month (so three brief 1-2 text conversations a month apart) but largely unsolicited. I wasn't really sure why we weren't speaking though, or if we would go back to being friends though, and I felt the things I was texting him about were noteworthy.

In April I texted and let him know I didn't have cancer. I did text him the next day and said I saw his friend while I was out, and it felt weird. We had talked so much about me meeting her and I just felt like I couldn't get away from "us." He sent a lone text to each message and nothing else. I didn't really get why he was being cold after sending me hundreds of texts in February and March- it happened so suddenly and he never told me why- which is the most effective tactic with me.

In May I texted him happy graduation. No response.

Then in June the weekend Tootie died, and when I met his sister, he deleted me off Facebook without warning or explanation. I assumed it had something to do with meeting his sister- which, when I saw our medical records seemed really ridiculous. It turns out she had been my dog's vet for THREE YEARS. I just hadn't remembered. I knew she felt and sounded so familiar and I had told Daniel so, but I had never actually checked. It had just been 3 years since we had seen her so I hadn't remembered. After a few days I dropped him a message and apologized if I had violated some boundary by introducing myself to his sister but it seemed weird not to, given the volume of personal information I have about his family- his childhood, her personal life, his parent's marriage, their finances, her relationship history... I mean really... If it were reversed I would be quite upset to find someone knew that volume of information about me and hadn't said anything.

I honestly accepted our friendship was over. He was too fucked up to have a friendship with me or to be in a healthy relationship with anyone. He just couldn't handle it. He was going to move to another country (maybe- I kind of have doubts) and in the last few months I have finally gotten to a better place of acceptance and closure. I don't feel good about myself or my own relationship future, but with this, if we don't talk, I have mourned this friendship a lot and I am exhausted. I just wanted to clear the air. If he thought I was being malicious, or had intentionally sought out his sister to maintain a connection that is not something I wanted him telling people. Because it was untrue. So I clarified, and said I was fine that the friendship had ended, but wanted to clear the air. I didn't expect a response. I considered the matter closed. I was surprised he even read the text.

A WEEK LATER at my niece's engagement party, late at night he responded to the message with his weird, "It doesn't matter you saw her. You have mistaken me for someone who cares." message.

This was so unnecessary, so cruel and also... so vague. Do you not care about me? About your sister? Did you not care that the cat died? When I read the message out loud people assumed you were saying you didn't care about me. This is initially how I took it also. But I also realized you could have just been lashing out that I shared with you that the cat died. Maybe you didn't want to hear about my life. I wasn't trying to overshare, I just was explaining why we had gone to the vet. He is so reactive and sensitive. So am I, so I don't blame him, but I wish he wasn't so impulsive.

So... I can step back from my perspective and think, I reached out three separate times over three months, unsolicited, basically received no response and continued to reach out anyway. And this was possibly annoying. Maybe it was upsetting? Getting messages from Daniel was very anxiety provoking but also exciting. I loved him. On the one hand, I think he's being ridiculous. All he really had to do to be a polite, caring human being was to say, "I just don't think us being friends is working. I'm really sorry. I think we are going to have to cut off ties. I know that might be hard for you, but I can't have you text me anymore." Or... even a more subtle, "Thank you," to the grad text, and leave it. And the deleting... if it had nothing to do with his sister I have NO IDEA what prompted it. I had gone to a concert a couple nights before and posted a clip with song lyrics. I thought maybe he had over personalized it (the song was my sister's wedding song... It really had nothing to do with him) but the lyrics could have been applied to things that happened between us. But they were in no way some low context communication to him. I have no idea. I don't know what happened.

Do I care? I do. I care about every person I have ever been with. And Dan is... special. Messed up, but special. He was special to me. He also changed me in a profound way and I don't know what I am going to end up in the future because of him and our relationship. I wish he was adult enough to see I want the best for him, I would never hurt him, and I accept the things he says. I also wish he would weigh the effects of the things he says- and his actions. Because they hurt.

In our relationships, we have the power to heal and to hurt. Intentionally harming someone is not ever the right thing to do. He had this quote I think I facebook I read once, I can't remember if he posted it, or where I read it but I know it was his. It was something like it's the details of how a man lived that matters, they are what differentiate a man from another. Something like that. These actions, his betrayals, his abandonment, his cruel words... these cornerstones he is putting forth into the universe are not in sync with what I believe his morals to be. Women have treated him badly- or so he says- and treating me badly in return is not going to get him where he wants to be. Granted, being kind to people had gotten me trampled on like a doormat, but I can say with absolute conviction I have never hurt anyone like he did me.

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