Longtime partner struggles with workload
Dear Amy: I have been with my partner for more than 30 years (we’re both women). We’ve lived together for the past seven years. During this time, I’ve watched her “bad habits” become worse, to the point that I’m worried about our future.
I think she may be suffering from depression. I asked her how/why she wears clothes that are stained and torn, even to work. She said, “I don’t care about that stuff.”
Her car is dirty inside and out, she never picks up anything she uses in the house (I run around behind her like she’s an unruly teenager), and she leaves things where she has dropped them in the house and yard. In the morning, she fixes herself breakfast and leaves the dishes in the sink.
I’ve tried to talk with her. We both work long hours and are successful in our pressure-cooker jobs, so why do I have to work so hard in this house? She has always been sloppy, but this is more than I know how to handle.
She is also shut down emotionally. She spends every minute on her phone. I suspect she is shut down because she’s so closeted, which is hilarious because everyone knows I’M gay. She truly believes that people think she’s straight, although she has never been married, never dated men, and has been living with a lesbian for years.
Amy, I am 63 years old. I know two things: First, our bad habits get worse as we age, and second, I cannot keep up this house on my own for the rest of my life.
I’m afraid of the future. I still love her, and I remember how much we used to “click.” But now ... is she lazy, or is she depressed?
When I’ve tried to get her to open up, she turns it into an argument.
What words can I say to get her to care about herself — and us?
Dear Hanging On: I cannot give you the magic words that will lift the scales from your partner’s eyes, help her to exit the closet, and then clean up the closet afterward. You cannot force her to love you differently.
Let’s do you. Read your own query and ask yourself (not your partner): Is this what I want? Am I living the life I want to live?
Answer those questions honestly, and then make a choice that focuses on you and on fixing your life, not hers.
From your description, it doesn’t seem to me that she is depressed, but rather that she has found herself a wonderful woman who enables her at every turn. And now, 30 years later, your partner simply doesn’t seem to give a damn, in part because she has never really had to.
You should see a therapist on your own. I think you should also consider separating, in order to clear your head, review your own choices, and contemplate your options for the future.
Dear Amy: In these COVID-19 days of drive-by birthday celebrations, would a drive-by Christmas work?
The giving family could drive by Grandma’s house (or whomever), and while waving from inside the suitably decorated car, drop off a bag of gifts to be opened by them on whatever special holiday they celebrate. The act of opening the gifts on the big day(s) could be shared by phone or Zoom.
What do you think?
Dear Close: I think this is a splendid idea.
This Christmas will be different. This holiday season might be quite poignant and painful for many. I do hope that those of us fortunate enough to be healthy can use this experience to deepen and broaden our compassion for all those (family, friends, and strangers) who are suffering, sad and struggling right now.
Dear Amy: “Anxious” related her experience of distance-dating a man whose life seems to have become very stressful and complicated (his father is in the hospital with cancer and COVID-19).
I’m glad you suggested that this woman should back off. Stressful times are the worst times to feel hemmed in by a needy new girlfriend.
Dear Man: Reading the question from “Anxious” almost gave me hives. I hope she can train herself to respect the extra distance that her longdistance guy seems to need right now.