CapnWannabeContributor
G'day everyone
Hi all..I'm a noob to this forum, and here is my story..
For the last 10 years or so, I've been a single dad to three kids. My ex-wife and I split up in 2009 about 9 months after we moved from Melbourne to Perth. Initially, she had my daughters, and I had my son, but things changed after she got pregnant to her new boyfriend. I would have fought to change things anyhow....I was driving my daughters back to my place for the weekend when my older daughter (aged 7 at the time) leaned over, grabbed my arm, looked me in the eye and said "I want to come and live with you".
Anyhow, my ex had issues with her pregnancy (she had issues with all of our kids - they're all premmies) and was ordered by her doctor to go home, go to bed, and don't get out until you're ready to drop...or words to that effect. This meant my daughters came to live with me, as my ex could no longer look after them.
To cut a long story short, I decided the best thing to do would be to come back to Melbourne, where I had family - both mine and hers - to help with raising the kids. I had no support network in Perth, and working full time while raising three kids was proving to be too much of a challenge.
In 2011, I made the move, and we've been here ever since.
I'm not a particularly social person - in fact, I'm extremely introverted - and don't have many friends. That's ok, though - those friends I do have are good friends. I never really found another partner until just over two years ago, when I started going out with a woman I've known pretty much since I got back to Melbourne. It was a match made in heaven....at least, I thought so...until it ended about 6 months ago. And this is where I'm getting stressed...
It is not like a "normal" break up, at least, none that I've experienced.
She keeps telling me that there's no chance for us, while at the same time, about once a month I've been going to her place and been invited to stay the night. A couple of times she's come to my place unexpectedly. She doesn't really talk to me when she's sober, but when she's drinking, that's a whole different story.
Now, I'll admit freely that I still carry a very large torch for her, and I've never hidden that from her. I believe I treat her the same way I did when we were together - I've never had an angry word to her (except for a few weeks ago....that's another story, though..) and I always treat her with respect. I'm just confused, and that confusion is stressing me. I try not to think about it, I try to give her space, but almost like clockwork she pops up again and again, and it's like she wants to start over. I just wish I knew what she was thinking..