21 day Fix

So, 9 days ago I signed up for a facebook group that was doing the 21 Day Fix ( a popular healthy eating and exercise program that you do for 21 days). Since having a child, I’ve let my physical self care go down the wayside. I used to go to the gym 4 days a week, even up until I was 37 weeks pregnant. It was something I really looked forward to.

This 21 day fix is rather strict, but that’s to be expected. It’s 21 days after all. I LOVE that I am food prepping and packing all my meals and planning things out. I love that I am exercising (you have to do a 30 minute video EVERY day). The downside is this. The only time that Adam and I get to spend together is at dinner, after Lamb is asleep. He usually goes running (he runs 3-6 miles daily) then picks us up dinner (usually something deliciously unhealthy), and then we sit together, eat dinner, and watch a favorite tv show. Now, it looks something like this.

He goes running, while I put Lamb to bed. I have usually already eaten my meal by this point (it’s usually just some grilled chicken and veggies). When he returns, I start my 30 minute work out. He eats dinner while I do this. Then we both take turns taking a shower. I’ve got to blow dry and flat iron my hair, and rush to get to bed by 9:30 (I need lots of sleep). So, we almost NEVER SPEND ANY TIME TOGETHER! Omg. It’s like, so frustrating. Food prepping and exercising takes up ALL MY TIME.

I plan after this is over, to try to strike some sort of a balance. Maybe exercise 3 times a week. Eat generally more healthy with some splurge meals during the week.

It would be so easy to be childless and single and cook and food prep and work out. But this is a juggling act that I think every mom struggles with. Unfortunately I’m not the kind of person that thrives on less than 8 hours of sleep a night. I envy those people!

So, although it feels great to be taking better care of myself, there is a downside. That, and I’m really craving a whole batch full of brownies right now =P Trying to make it to the end of this challenge though because that’s when we’re all headed to Belize for a family beach wedding.

Is he dead?

I don’t have a lot of time to right, but I’d thought I’d at least check in at this space.

A few weeks ago, Adam was looking particularly depressed. Walking around the house looking like an empty shell, a zombie. I asked him if he was stressed about work, hoping the answer would be yes.

No, he said. I’m just depressed.

I feel like you hate me, I said.

I don’t hate you, he replied. I hate myself.

I know, I said. My heart sank. That icky feeling in my gut started to develop. We’re not doing well, I said.

Maybe we should see a couple’s counselor again. He replied.

How is that going to help? I said. It always leaves us in the same place. What conclusion can they really help us come to? We’re a paradox. Maybe you should just see someone on your own for awhile.

Well you know how that goes, he said. They always push you in one of two directions and I don’t know if I’m ready for that.

Tears were streaming down my face. I felt sick to my stomach, like I wanted to vomit.

I just want to feel alive, he said.

You have so much to live for, right here in front of you. Me and Lamb. I choked back through my tears, knowing that it wasn’t about that. Knowing that we wouldn’t ever be enough.

I just, I see in my mind how things could be with us, I say.

Like how? he asks.

Just, us… doing the things families do. Going on vacations. Laughing. Dancing. Talking. Hugging. Having fun as a family. Nothing special. Just, coming home from work and being excited to see each other. Waking up happy and energized and excited to be alive as a family. It’s just like, I can see our happy life. Like it’s so close but yet it’s not, I say.

He just lies there.

I’m just so afraid, I said. I just don’t want to drag Lamb through this. My heart is breaking for you, my heart is breaking for me, my heart is most surely breaking for Lamb,  I cried.

He laid on the bed in silence.

It was getting late. I couldn’t do this anymore. I just can’t talk about it anymore. I’m getting too upset. I need to go to bed.  I walked out of the room and slept in Lamb’s room, where I do every night.

I thought for a long while about divorce that night and what that would mean, for all of us. I thought about how I wanted Lamb to have a sibling so she wouldn’t be alone in whatever insanity follows in the future. I thought about how fucked up it all is. How I just wish we had normal people problems. I could barely sleep.

When I went in to work the next day, my coworker and close friend was complaining to me about her own idiotic husband. I burst into tears and told her Adam and I weren’t doing well. I told her I was scared. I was envious of normal people problems. I just wanted a jerk for a husband instead of a person with gender dysphoria. I didn’t want to live the rest of my life miserable in one way or another. We both started talking about how we’d both considered divorce. The harsh realities of what that would mean for us both financially, emotionally, being a single parent. We talked about the harsh realities of what that would mean for our kids and how we didn’t want our daughters to have another dad, or another mom. I lamented on how I never wanted to be a step mom. I don’t want to be a mom to other people’s kids. God I hate other people’s kids. I just couldn’t do it. And I know Adam would fall off the radar. I just know he’d be absent from Lamb’s life in a big way for awhile and I just can’t imagine doing that to a little kid, or any kid for that matter.

I know it’s got to be so confusing to all our families. Whatever happened to Adam coming out? There he, SHE, was, out. And then suddenly he was in again. And nothing was ever said. And nothing was ever done. And here we are continuing on like normal… except for his long long hair, which is twice as long as mine now.

It’s not so simple anymore. Not that it ever was, but dear lord this is hard. So that’s why I’ve been silent because, sometimes updating on the mundane parts of life just seems pointless when I don’t know, all of this is happening.

Lamb is 19 months. I’m already having to think about her 2nd birthday. I’m in the midst of considering a career change or at least big leap in career stuff. There’s so much I want done in the next few years. So many goals I have set. So much depending on it all.