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It's always been that way, although for years it was the only time we had together because I was teaching out of state. She often commented that she liked me best when I was on the phone or on email.
I've noticed the following things get to me during break:
1. The SO and I are together everyday. That means she no longer leaves the house at 6:45 am which during the semester frees me to enter my the world according to my routines. With my routines interrupted I'm bugged--little things like her talking (but not quite audibly) to me from other rooms, or interrupting my relaxation practice, needing help with word-processing fussiness (formatting footnotes, etc), asking for help proofing citations for manuscripts, etc. all require psychic adjustments. I usually screw up in a major way at least once a week during school breaks.
2. Also she gets a lot of time to observe me and to let me know just how I should be dealing with my problems. Needless to say, as similar as our values are, I don't live and probably can't live my life seeing things the same as she does or making all same decisions as she would.
3. She spends more time in the house and notices things she wants fixed, varies routines for grocery shopping and timing of meals etc. My schedule flexes to hers and I find myself needing to be overly vigilant about how things are going. She gets really tired of me asking every half hour "Hows it going?"
4. She has a lot more time to think and share her thoughts and emotions about life and her job which gets me into talking about things I once upon a lifetime did. And she reminds me how 'You are not teaching anymore" which is true but humiliating, too. She wants to connect by sharing how she feels and talking about us and our challenges. I always wind up emotionally tested, at some point I zap my fear of abandonment etc, with all the accompanying agony.
In the past year, we've done better. I am better at recognizing when I should be walking away from things which will turn into overly emotional events and she's learned that I need the "time outs" alone. So things in some respects are better. But, I understand how semester breaks and the changes they bring are at times are really challenging.
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