Dear Readers
This was written for all of you who let life get in the way of love. Sometimes all it takes is a little communication. I truly enjoyed writing this story. Comments are appreciated!
~M
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Being married had never been a possibility for me... that is until I met Josh. We didn't click right off but sparks flew anyway. We were both temperamental with chips on our shoulders about relationships. With his being an architect and me being hired to design the web pages for his company, we were thrown together quite often. Needless to say, we got through all of the layers of our bullshit and ended up having a really good relationship. He loved me and I loved him so we decided to get married.
Let me introduce myself, my name is Todd, yeah I'm a guy. Which, by the way is the reason I didn't think marriage was an even remote possibility. Anyway, I'm just your average everyday guy living his life with who I hope will be the only and last love of my life. I'm 5'10, with dark brown eyes, almost black. My hair is jet black. I used to pride myself on my gym routine, which afforded me a lean and buffed physique. Todd is gorgeous, but then again maybe I'm biased. He wears his hair long, which is a stark contrast to my short but deep waves. His hair is a golden-bronzed color that makes me hard just thinking about it. His eyes are a steely grey that even twinkle when he's annoyed. He's just shy of six inches taller than me with a lean and muscled look that makes me feel like the luckiest man alive.
So what could be the problem? I had a hot ass husband, who I had been married to for seven almost eight years. We had a huge house that he designed of course, and wonderful friends and family. The problem, in one word, was children, of which we had two. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the kids. I'm just saying that their adoptions coincided with the downfall of our marriage. I loved our children to death and I had even decided to work on a freelance basis from home to take care of the kids. Jessica and James were the light of our lives. It's just that me and Josh were no longer burning brightly for each other. I felt like I was losing him ever since we adopted and I didn't know what to do.
In the seven years that we had been married, I'll admit that I'd gotten lazy. Not that I was a soap opera and bon-bon couch potato, but I was developing a little belly and my legs had filled out a little and not with muscle either. Both Josh and I were great cooks so we always had great meals even if they were simple. We were in a rut. Our lives had become too much of a routine. With two toddlers it gets a little hectic and it is always nice that we worked so well together, even without saying much. However, along the way, that non-verbal communication that had often made the household run like a well-oiled machine was almost all the communication that went on. It didn't get easier as the children were getting older. I just didn't know how to approach Josh.
One of my growing fears was that there was something going on in his life at the office that I had no idea about. I would never believe that he'd cheat on me but that didn't stop me from feeling less attractive to him and as if I was out of the loop of one part of his life. We used to be a very talkative couple; we couldn't wait to share the events of the day with each other. Now I have a hard time believing that temper tantrums and throwing food qualify as titillating conversation. As far as why he didn't share anymore, I could only imagine.
I knew that I still loved my husband and I had no intention of giving up on our relationship, I just wish I knew what was wrong so I could work on it. I was not going to be one of those people who just sat around and stewed. I could start by doing something simple with Josh... I could talk to him. I know it sounds corny or over-simplified, but I can't tell you how many of our friends have broken up over miscommunication or just not being upfront and sharing their feelings.
The other problem was how exactly to articulate myself when the time came to actually lay my cards on the table. I could only think of things from my perspective since we hadn't had a real conversation in months. From my end of things I had to admit that a lot of my problem was insecurity. I think that I was afraid to confront him because it might turn out to be all my fault. I felt lazy and like I was out of shape and out of touch with the world. I didn't feel as if I held any appeal. I had unwittingly fallen into the role of housewife but that was so about to change.
Before I burdened Josh with what I was beginning to feel like was my pity party, I decided to get my head on straight. If I wasn't willing to give up on him then I couldn't be willing to give up on myself.
The first thing I did was clean out a spare bedroom that had been used for storage and I ordered some workout equipment on the internet. There was no way I'd leave the children with someone else, even for vanity's sake. I set everything up; even had some fun with the children on the new equipment, of course it was off, but I couldn't resist taking pictures and all. I started working out and even eating more healthy. I was slowly getting my head together and rebuilding my confidence. I needed to recapture the focus of my hunky man and hope that he still loved me enough to work everything out.
JOSH
Work was going great; the office almost ran without me. Of course I couldn't say the same for my home life. Something was wrong, definitely wrong but I didn't know what it was. Todd was so quiet now, he mostly ignored me. I'd noticed that we weren't working in synch any longer; we just were doing things simultaneously but on an individual basis. We weren't even making love as regularly as before. It was always so natural before that we never even thought about it but now I feel as if I need to ask to have sex and I just don't know how to deal with that.