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I Want to be Your Partner, Not Your Caretaker
My ex-husband texted me today to ask if I’d seen his healthcare card. We’ve been separated over a year but it was so easy to fall back into old habits. Where was the last place you had it? What do you need it for? He had eaten at a restaurant with a Hepatitis A risk and couldn’t remember if he had his vaccinations.
“You’ve got your Twinrix. You got it before we went to Mexico and had to go to the doctor for vaccinations with stitches in your thumb.”
“Was that the same time?”
“Yep. 2012”
“Also couldn’t remember the year when she asked. Thanks”
I have the health records of my ex memorized better than he does. There is no longer any reason to have that information but it’s still ingrained into my brain as if it were written in indelible ink. More disturbing is how quickly I reverted to the person that I used to be. Booking his doctor’s appointments, folding the laundry, making supper, giving him a chore list and begging for help. The weight of ensuring that ours was a functional household was one that fell squarely on my shoulders but it was one that I grew to resent.
I am the wrong personality to be a housewife. I’m sitting at my computer alternating between this article and catching up on the flood of work emails that I ran out of time to…
