October 7, 2008...11:15 pm

My confession

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I sat on the cold tile floor in front of the cabinet that holds our liquor.  I’ve been hot this evening so I just enjoyed the chill I got for a moment before quietly opening the door to the cabinet.  Sometimes I like the purposefulness of trying to be so very, very quiet.  All of your motions are slow and deliberate.  Having to think about each tiny move you make so as not to make any sort of sound arouses my senses.

With the cabinet open I sat for a minute to listen.  I looked at the pretty bottles and the collection of glasses I would have to slowly and deliberately move to get to what I wanted.  My child moved in her room next door but she didn’t get up.  I took out the shaker and sat it on the bar.  I removed two double shot glasses and sat them next to me.  I took out a bottle of vodka and sat it aside.  I looked in the cabinet to see where things were before I blindly started digging around and knocking over glass.  My dear bottle of Crown was towards the back but not hard to get.  I took it out and noticed where the amount of liquor hit the label.  Not that I would ever add water back to a bottle of whiskey that cost nearly $30 but I wanted to know if what I was about to drink would be noticeable.

Now I have never had Crown straight up before.  But this afternoon as I sat in my car sobbing it’s just about all I could think about.  But as I started to put the things I’d removed back in the cabinet before pouring myself a glass (the last thing I needed was for someone to get up and see all these liquor glasses sitting in the floor – it would be easier to quickly hide one bottle if I heard someone coming) the vodka seemed more tempting.  It’s cobalt blue bottle shined in the light from the patio doors outside.  I held it up – there was a lot more of it than there was of my precious Crown.  I thought about how much I enjoy a Crown and Coke and how if I made myself sick on the Crown tonight I’d likely never want a Crown and Coke again.

I had to get up and wash a shot glass.  I barely turned the kitchen faucet on and decided a rinse in cold water would be enough.  A little dust wouldn’t hurt me.  But I’m a lady and I need a clean glass.  I rinsed and dried it several times.  Procrastinating to see if I could hear anyone awake.  I ran the glass full of water to see how many swallows it would take me to get it all down.  Practicing before I put the real stuff in.  I wanted to be able to swallow all of the vodka at once and this was a big shot glass.  After three tries I figured out where to pour the vodka to so that I’d be able to just take one big gulp.  Two fingers from the bottom.  I sat down again and opened the bottle.  I smelled it although I did not expect to smell anything.  I stuck my finger in the liquid and tasted it.  I got up one more time and cradled my glass like a MIng vase.  I walked into the hall to peer into my daughter’s room.  I then turned around to look in my son’s room.  I went in and felt his chest.  Then I went back to my daughter’s room and kissed her.  I want them to be better than me.  Stronger than me.

I poured some.  I didn’t have to courage to take the big gulp.  Just like I don’t have to courage to leave.  Just like I don’t have the courage to run my car off the road.  Just like I don’t have the courage to tell my friends that I think I might have an alcohol problem can they help me please before it gets worse and I end up in some clinic and my kids are ashamed of me and my husband leaves me not because he’s gay but because I’m a drunk and I look like an old hag and smell of hard liquor all the time.

I tasted it slowly.  My first tiny swallow burned my throat.  Ick.  But that stopped and what I was left with was a pleasant tingling tongue and lips.  Another tiny sip.  The burning was less.  The tingling was better.  A little voice (probably the devil himself) said that if I just drink it all the tingling will be inside me instead of just on my lips.  Like and orgasm.  I haven’t had one in a while it seems……..

I cried.  I put my head in my hands and cried.  I asked God what I should do.  Should I tell my husband how much it hurts?  Should I tell him I need him and the physical affection even more than I realized?  Should I tell him I need him to make love to me?  I asked God to give me strength and to take away this temptation.

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I don’t understand why temptation seems to come at you more frequently when you are already down and feeling like shit.  For instance, I was not a drinker before Jay came out.  I never ever remember serious opportunities arising for a casual sexual encounter without my husband knowing until now.  I could so easily fulfill my need for physical pleasure right now with a man I came very close to sleeping with once in my life and Jay would never know about it.  What sucks is I don’t think Jay would care.  That’s why it’s not worth it.

12 Comments

  • I really wish there was something I could do to help you. I truly do. And I wish I had some words to tell you that things will get better but I honestly don’t think they will. Your in an impossible situation. Does Jay know just what hell you are going through because of his desire for a bit of cock. These types of marriages may work for some people for for others they don’t. Sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt and something tells me it wont be Jay. I am sorry to be so abrupt, but your entitled to be happy too.

  • Thanks for the reply to my rambling email. You are touching people so very far away (cornwall. England) as well as those close to you. You have made me feel a little more positive about my own situation. Just get Oct 14th out of the way the build up to this is bound to be traumatic. Please be positive. I’ve come to like you a lot through reading your blog and I am only up to March 2008 reading Jays so I don’t know what surprises there are ahead in that. As I said, be positive as you are an inspirational woman who keeps other strong, please now take some strength from others. Thinking of you.
    Allison

  • Ange:

    speaking only of my own experience, I would say alcohol is not the disease, but the symptom. And the disease seems to one of the heart.

    Everyone has their limits, and it is only when you find them, and you feel you no longer have any choice, that you are able to do what Jesus called “the one necessary thing”– no telling what it will be, it is different in each moment for each of us…

    T@C

  • I am so sorry for what you are going through. You deserve to be happy. And so does Jay.
    Does it feel better when you drink? I tried to drown my sorrows once, but that period got very short because it didn’t make me feel any different.
    I pray for you, for things to get better.
    Take care!

  • Ang,

    It was like reading my mother’s diary… The alcohol never let her go. Or my father for that matter. Darling, you need help (accepting help does not mean you are weak. In fact it takes a very strong person to admit they need and to ask for help. I know you are much stronger than that) and I don’t know what else to say or do except to tell you in the words of the great Rafiki….

    “It is time.”

    Time for you to look out for you. You wouldn’t be drinking if you didn’t hurt so much and I am sure that when you stop hurting the drinking will stop too…as long as you do something now before it becomes a very bad habit. I’m here for you if you need anything. Take care….please?

  • @Jen: When I saw in my inbox that you had commented, I was afraid you were going to chew me out. Much to my surprise you didn’t:)

    @ Tarald: I am happy. I think Jay is. Is any person on earth ever 100% happy? I mean, I thought I was before the big secret was revealed to me, but when I saw how mundane and routine life had become for us, how much sex we weren’t having, I realized I wasn’t happy with that aspect.

    @ Troll: Wise words from Jesus. Yes, I know many of them. I actually believe in them as well. What is that “one necessary thing?” Hmmm. I’ll have to think on it.

    @ Romach: I love you. I feel like you look out for me as much as you can being so far away and we are total strangers. Don’t be so hard on Jay. He didn’t choose his sexuality. But for my benefit should he learn to live with it?

  • Ange:

    The “unum necessarium” line comes from the story of Mary and Martha.

    The Naz arrives at their house with Entourage. Martha is going crazy in the kitchen, while Mary sits and listens. Martha finally comes out of the kitchen and asks the Naz to send her sister in to help, and gets the reply that Mary has chosen the better part–”the one necessary thing”–in the NRSVersion it is “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part…” [Luke 10: 41-42]

    What she did was right only for her and only in that moment–surely we all need to lend Martha a hand most of the time. But not always. When the Naz was in her house, Mary had a unique opportunity; we likewise can never know ahead of time what the moment, day, hour will require of us. We just suddenly “see” that is necessary.

    As I saw at last that I had to leave home to stop flaying Isis alive with my indecision, a decision I still regret, but was simply necessary at the time…

    Hang in there.
    T@C

  • i thought if i read others’ comments i can think of something good but then may be they’d said everything, so im just saying what i think.
    there’s nothing i can do for you, it’s a shame i have to admit and i hate myself for not being able to understand you; but the way you described things made me cry, i mean crying in the dropping tears sense of way.
    You’re great, nice, kind and though J is a friend I do care about, I think your life is so unfair. you’re a good wife and mom, so for God’s sake get a grip and find a way/someone to help yourself; drinking is not an option.
    I love you and keep worrying about the whole family of yours till you feel a bit better
    hugs and kisses,
    K

  • I am praying for you!

  • A,

    For what it’s worth, my wife and I are still together. The road has not been an easy one for either of us, and I would not wish our particular path on anyone. But I can finally say that being with her is more important than chasing a dream of fulfilling myself through finding the perfect man.

    Things will work out as they should for you and your family. Just remember that no one else’s story is a prediction of yours.

    F

  • I don’t think writing blogs like this that Jay can read will make things better. It tortures him and you.

    He is gay and that will never change. You can wallow in sorror or pick yourself up and seek happiness and find a new man to love. Trust me, there are men out there who you could love just as much as Jay, plus the true physical intimacy.

    And you and Jay can stay close. But don’t make his coming out process that much harder – it will only hurt him.

  • Your post made me cry. And made me angry at these gay husbands of ours. Sometimes I get so angry at him that I think I’m going to go blind.

    Yes, and what hurts most is that he doesn’t seem to get it – how hurt I am.

    He once said that if I left him it would break his heart. . . don’t they get it? Our hearts are already broken.


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