Taking the divorce card off the table

So I'm not sure really where it came from, and I suppose I don't really want to dig that far. But...yesterday, Mr. Hyde showed up and told me he loved me and needed me and didn't want to leave. He voiced it at a rather strange time, as well. The whole night was, in some ways, just a different song than has been playing for some time in our marriage.

It was the first day of my Sexy Advent Calendar. I hid a cute little card in his things so he'd find it while getting ready to leave for work. In it, I listed one thing I liked about him (his twisted humor) and gave him a bit of a *hint* about the day's gift, which was a pack of sharpie markers (a totally inside joke that I can't explain).

When he got home from work, he opened his gift. He laughed and smiled bigger than I've seen him smile in a long time...and he told me,, "That's what I mean. You do know how to meet my needs...you've just forgotten. This is what I'm talking about." He told me it was the most romantic gift I'd given him in a long time. So I get that romance is tinged with humor and history and sex for him, and it's definitely a different brand from that which I need. But...I'm going with it, since it seemed to work.

We went to dinner as a family, and while the boy was in the bathroom, he told me, "I don't really know exactly how to put it, but, even before the gift, I'd already decided that I can't leave you. I need you too much. I love you." I concurred and said, "Then maybe we just need to pull the divorce card from the deck and stop pulling it on each other." He replied, "We have a lot to work on; but I'd rather work on it that lose you." At which point the boy came back and we had to shift the conversation to child-friendly topics.

When we got home, we went through our normal evening routine and ended up on the couch watching "Designated Survivor" and "Shameless". He asked me to sit next to him. He got me a glass of wine. When I snagged my nail and started biting at it, he offered to get me a file.

He was like a different person. Even sober. So somewhere along the last few days, he has to have had some sort of epiphany about our relationship.

At bed time, I went to wash my face while he continued down the internet vortex (his every evening past-time). He said he'd be right in. I came out to say goodnight and encouraged him to follow by saying, "Naked woman in the bed? Or really not sexy, hard, metal, and plastic thing with a glowing screen that just tends to piss you off more than anything?" He replied with the correct choice..."Naked woman in the bed, please...."

He smiled and kissed me for longer than he usually does.

And let me just close with this: we had sex, we snuggled up together, and I was smiling as I drifted off to sleep.

Imperfectly yours,