We’re almost guaranteed to end up in a lot of awkward situations in life, but there’s something about getting caught in the middle of a couple’s fight that makes each minute feel like an hour.
And while an angry enough fight about a minor issue can put a damper on a good time, it’s especially saddening when it’s clear that the relationship is being plagued by some deep-seated issues that are making both parties miserable .
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In such cases, the awkwardness isn’t even the worst part because it’s hard not to feel powerless in the face of serious problems coming between two people you care about.
But as one woman’s story illustrates, we never really know when we’re going to reach the limit of what we can take after we feel unheard and unappreciated.
To establish context for her story, the woman we’re about to hear from said she’s a stay-at-home mom of three children under six years old while her husband works as a pilot.
As she explained in a Reddit post , this arrangement has apparently been the source of some marital strife lately as her husband often complains that he doesn’t feel she’s taking care of her looks and is always busy with household chores.
She said that she does her hair and wears eye makeup, but he apparently wants her to take more trips to the salon and buy new dresses among other changes.
He always frames these comments about her looks as “innocent advice,” but it seemed like anything but that when the issue came to a head during a family dinner.
This dinner was about preparations for her sister’s wedding and he made a point at giving the woman meaningful looks every time hair, makeup and dresses came up.
Finally, he started being more overt about criticizing how she’s looked — which he referred to as “unladylike” — since the birth of their third child.
This resulted in a list of demands ranging from changing her hair color and getting her nails done to being more “energetic, positive, outgoing, and sexy.”
In the woman’s words, “I was stunned, mouth wide open and so were my parents.”
As she put it, “I loudly said ‘behind every unladylike, miserable woman…there’s a trashy, negative [expletive] man.”
She then proceeded to suggest that she might not be so “unladylike” if he helped with their three children or did more than brag about what a good provider he is on Facebook while she cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and woke up with the baby.
While the husband was quiet for the rest of the visit, he yelled at her in the car for ruining his relationship with her family.
He also accused her of creating a “false” and “misleading” impression of him and airing their private matters.
Although the woman reminded him that he brought it up, she nonetheless wondered if she’s been oversensitive lately and went too far.
But as far as Reddit was concerned, the blame was entirely on him in this situation.
And due to his jet-setting job and the similarities his words had to their former spouses before they were discovered, some suspected that he was cheating on her.
But those who didn’t share that suspicion nonetheless thought he brought the situation on himself and is contributing to a deeply unhappy relationship.
As one user said , “He brought it up in front of your family to shame you and is upset it blew up in his face and he got shamed instead.”
In the words of another, “Your husband doesn’t appreciate all the work that you do in your marriage. I’d definitely look into some couples therapy because there is a lot to unpack there.”
h/t: Reddit | Parkingsign44
