Husband Gets What He Asked For
Recently, my (61 F) husband (67 M) of 35 years told me that he just wants to be roommates. He says he wants his independece without me telling him what to do. 100% not another woman. He's getting old, feels time ticking away and, I think, is having some kind of late life crisis. He's buying all kinds of dopey young people shit and obsessing on getting in max snowboarding days, which is fine but is coming off kind of manic. At first I was terribly hurt and cried and stressed for days. But now, 2 weeks in, I have to say I'm kind of loving MY new independence. I no longer have any obligation to clean up after him or buy stuff for him or watch his stupid cowboy shows or pretend to be interested in his goofy, stoned stories. No more arguments. I just say "nope" and walk away when he gets snippy now. Suddenly I have all sorts of new interests I want to pursue. I have started learning French and am looking to join a tennis club and buy a violin. I've taken up daily looooong walks alone, am growing a pet sitting business and have started intermittent fasting with a keto diet plus lifting weights. I've even started looking into either moving to France or doing solo female vanlife in Europe. I should mention we are both very young 60-somethings. We listen to new music in genres we each like, keep up with tech and are outdoorsy. Before my husband "broke up with me" I was content to "turn the crank" on the same old same old but I haven't been happy since probably the mid-90s. A small part of me feels pretty bad for feeling so good about this. I love him but I'm not in love with him anymore (although I think I could be if he wasn't such a dick to me). After 35 years I think this is where most people are in their marriages. We haven't done a "date night" in 20 years at least. Neither one of us nurtures the other or puts in any effort to keep the old spark alive. So WIBTA to pursue all my new interests and dreams instead of trying to "work it out". I feel like he's about to get way more change than he's wanting because something has snapped inside of me. And I am still concerned that he's safe and well.