See what reading gets you?

So the Honey has been away on business this week. Thankfully, his trip is ending a day early and he gets to come home tonight. I truly miss him when he's gone. Even though sometimes, we hardly have anything to say to one another at home (its all been said at work), I still miss him not sleeping in bed with me. It also gets my mind reeling about his past indiscretion and emotional adultery. While we are not married, in the eyes of god or the state or whatever, we've been together 5 years and live together. We have have a house together, cars together, finances together. I absolutely love being with him and he is truly the absolute best partner I have ever had. He is appreciative, sincere, funny, smart, helpful. He is a totally great guy. I love him. I however, have never had a relationship where my partner hasn't cheated. I have never once cheated on a partner, but in some karmic retribution way, I must deserve this. I realize my own faults in a relationship, work hard to acknowledge them and resolve them as they come up. I also know that I have never stayed with a partner once I have found out about the cheating. I have called it quits, moved on, moved forward and left the relationship behind me. Never have I actually wanted to work things out. Seems as though the cheating was the out I needed or wanted and just took advantage of the opportunity that was knocking.

That all being said, I have some insecurity and trust issues in a relationship. I can generally keep them in check and recognize what is mine to own and what is someone elses shit that I don't really have to deal with. About a year ago, I learned that Honey had been having what I am terming an "emotional affair" with his ex-girlfriend. Background on ex-girlfriend is that he dated her for almost 12 years. In that 12 years, he was ALWAYS the other man. She had boyfriends with him on the side, she has a husband, with him on the side. Other boyfriends while with husband with him on the side. I know her, I've seen her in action with him. He and I were friends for several years before we actually got together and we were friends through his breaking it off with her. I know what she did to him emotionally during their relationship and during their breakup. She is manipulative to the point of sickness, a coke abuser, a liar, and just generally not a very nice person. Now, this is not just my opinion of her. Every single one of the Honey's friends and family had NOTHING nice to say about this woman.

Ok.. so back to the tale of my woe. About a year ago, I found out that Honey had been talking to her, at length, every single day. She had been emailing him suggestive and often sexual photos of herself. She told him she loved him and wanted him to get back together, etc., etc. I also found out that this had been going on for the duration of our relationship. Now, because I know her, and I know how incredibly manipulative she is, I had told him, in the very beginning, that I didn't like him talking to her. I am not normally a jealous or overbearing, ultimatium giving kind of partner, but with her, I felt I needed to express my inability to deal with her in our relationship. Fast forward to Xmas 2005. We are on the road, heading to his parents house for the holiday. We are talking in the car, and as the result of the conversation, I asked if he had talked to her. Honey said No, not in years. Ok.. fast forward to mid-January. Honey left his computer on, is out and about. Asks me to look at his computer for something. I do. Guess what I see? Gushy mushy all over his IM with HER. I read through it, I snooped and found more. Going back to just shortly after our relationship started. YEARS!. I was Horrified. I was absolutely incensed. I was fucking pissed. I let it sit for a bit, I called my sister, she and I talked it out. How in the fuck could he bold faced lie like that? just a month ago? What the hell? So when he finally got home, I let him have it. I was honestly ready to leave. I was ready to pack my shit, grab the kids, find a fucking hotel until we could get an apartment and just leave. But, I couldn't. I wasn't ready, I'm still not ready to give up on Honey. We talk...and talk.. and I rant and rave and he talks and rants and raves. Things calm down for the night. Rinse and repeat for the next couple weeks as I try to digest all this and figure out what the fuck I need and want to do.

We get to a place. An ok place for the time being. I absolutely forbid him his talking to her, emailing her, chatting with her, etc. He says he complies. A couple weeks later, I'm talking to a mutual friend of mine, Honey and Her, who doesn't know what has transpired. He proceeds to tell me that She has been ranting and raving about what a bitch I am and how I am unreasonable and abusive and friend needs to get Honey out of that relationship. I also learn how she's been emailing and IM'ing and calling and he's not responding (whew, lucky honey on that one). However, all of this makes me question, what did Honey tell her? So, I am now pissed off. Did he just stop talking to her? Did he just put the blame on me that i won't "let" him? So, we start in on Round 2 of the talking and ranting and raving and crying. I make him call her on the phone with me there and explain this shit to her. How I can't deal with the I love yous, I want you with me (she's still married with a boyfriend living with her and her husband), the daily conversations about our life, the frustrations about work, money, etc that he doesn't tell me. I could give a flying rats ass if she thinks its me. I really am not up for caring what a coke whore lying manipulator thinks of me. She says I'm an immature stupid bitch and need to get over myself. They hang up. That is feb 2006.

Since then, we, both Honey and I, have worked on our relationship. Until this blew up, we had a good relationship. But, we have both put in exhaustive measures, counseling, etc to make a go of this. Yet, there are times, when the whole thing creeps back in. The years of lying to my face about talking to her. The distrust is still there. I realize that I own this distrust. Honey is absolutely understanding that I am not capable of just "dropping it". He does all the reassuring that he can when I get in a tissy about it, when it consumes me and I worry about it. I worry about what in our relationship is so wrong that he has to go back to her. How horrible do I have to be that he chooses everything I know about their previous relationship (not good things..) over what we have?

The JUICE OF THE POST..
Well.. he's been travelling alot. Our mutual friend said he (friend, not honey) was talking to her. I start getting in my head that maybe he's telling the truth that Honey is not talking to her, but perhaps he's talking through friend to her. This sets off all my emotions about did I do the right thing? If he would just tell me he was talking to her, there would be a clear path for my resolution. As it is, I mostly, deep down, believe it when he says he isn't. I think (hope?) that he realizes that despite some of our issues (which are few and this is the absolute most major), we have a good thing going. Then I start reading blogs and come across one about a cheating husband and all the emotions that go with that. It just stirs up so much more and raises everything I am trying to hard to push down, up to the surface. So I dump on him. While he's in the airport, waiting for his plane to bring him home, to all my insecure bullshit. I am very careful in expressing that I recognize this is MY bullshit. MY baggage. MY whateveryouwanttocallit. I know its mine. I know that this was triggered by nothing that he said or did or didn't do or say. But I need him to help me move forward..today. Get me through it. But he's not here. So I get to rant on my blog and simmer in my self-created shit stew.