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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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To not move on from how DH handled my birthday

363 replies

Desolee · 09/10/2016 13:15

On Monday I came back from a ten day work trip - time difference where I had been was plus five hours.

Tuesday was my birthday. In the morning I was up at 6, made DH coffee and DD breakfast before leaving for work by 7, birthday unacknowledged.

That night DH had taken DD to a rehearsal before I got home from work. They should have been home by 9, but DH detoured via the supermarket and they arrived home at 10. He'd previously waited outside DD's rehearsal in the car for 1.5 hrs, 5 mins drive from a supermarket, though I guess he will have been taking work calls for some of this. By 10 my body clock said 3am and I'd fallen asleep, but was fully clothed, not in bed.

DD who is 14 had spent the previous few days trying to organise presents and cake as she thinks birthdays are important. However DH's action on getting home was to send her to bed, unfed. (I hadn't made dinner as birthday person never previously has in our house.) Apparently she was very tearful at this point. He roughly woke me up and told me to go to bed. I was initially confused, asking what about DD, then upset and hurt when he said she'd just gone to bed. He didn't offer me even a cup of tea and when he didn't acknowledge my birthday or, in fact, me at all, I went rather tearfully to sleep in spare room, thinking both of them had ignored it.

Next morning he left for a work trip at around 5am. After speaking to DD who was still upset and hearing from her what happened the night before I sent him short message to say unilaterally cancelling my birthday was hurtful and cruel to both of us. A few hours later got a response to say it was crossed wires and he thought I'd fallen asleep for the night.

He came back on Friday night. No attempt to make anything up or reference to the missed birthday. Yesterday he spent out at his hobby though he did do some lifts for DD. Today we should have been going to visit DS 1.5 hours drive away. DS has decided he needs his car at uni so DH was going to drive it up then both drive back in my car. I said I didn't want to go and could he go with DD and get train back and I'd collect them from local station. I wanted to see DS but couldn't face spending the day with DH. I really don't like driving DS's car so couldn't propose the arrangement in reverse. Anyway in the event he has rung DS to say we now can't be bothered to go and poor DS is coming down on the train to retrieve his car.

DH has apparently told DD I am sulking over my birthday. I don't think I am sulking - I genuinely think I am entitled to feel hurt over this. It isn't specifically about cake, which I very rarely eat, or presents - we're not short of money and within reason I can have whatever I want so would never be waiting for nice make up or boots or a specific book or whatever. I just feel so sad that this is the amount he cares about me and DD's feelings. However am I making too much of it?

For full disclosure I'm in my mid 40s so it wasn't a significant birthday. My parents are away and both of my sisters and two best friends also forgot my birthday so perhaps this is skewing my reaction?

OP posts:
TaterTots · 09/10/2016 22:48

tatertots, please stop high jacking this thread. You're being obnoxious. This thread is not about you!

Then why, four hours after I last posted in the thread, are you dragging me back into it? I'm not the one doing any hijacking.

user1473454752 · 09/10/2016 22:49

I dont get the you felt so low you couldnt concentrate driving the car? my mother died and I still had to make the journey of and hour and a half to her house, so I dont get the you couldnt drive the car part, apart from all that it was mean he forgot your birthday, however if you are away with work all the time??? then he gets on with his own life sort of thing, if that makes sense.

teatowel · 09/10/2016 22:49

Everybody seems to have completely over reacted. Maybe they got home from the supermarket (a visit that seems likely to have been instigated by the dd)It was late, the op was asleep in her clothes so the husband told the daughter she might as well go to bed and then woke his wife up to suggest she went to bed Presumably he thought she was tired and would be more comfortable in bed. Lots of mistakes , he should have said happy birthday etc . However now everybody seems to be sulking. You need to talk about it and sort it out. It may be wrong but a lot of men just do not get the importance that women put on birthdays.

Blu · 09/10/2016 23:03

"At 14 DD is of course capable of getting herself things to eat but she won't do that in defiance of her dad if she's been told to go to bed."

This sentence can read 2 ways.

  1. "she is capable of getting something to eat but if her dad has told her to go to bed she wouldn't defy him by making some toast"
  2. She is capable of getting something to eat, but if her Dad tells her to go to bed she would refuse to get her dinner as an act of defiance"

I am pretty sure the OP mean it the first way.

AndieNZ · 09/10/2016 23:22

Happy birthday OP. (We share the same birthday and we are of a similar age!)

I would be fuming and hurt too if my birthday panned out the same way as yours.

I would do as others have suggested and have a belated birthday get together with your DD and DS.

I'm sorry but unless this is a completely isolated and freak incident, I would be reevaluating my marital status as I couldn't be married to someone so thoughtless, inconsiderate and selfish.

Penhacked · 10/10/2016 06:58

Have you ever tried losing your shit with him rather than the silent treatment and inwardly fantasising about leaving? I bet your dd would actually like to hear you standing up to him for this. The fact she is also fantasising about him leaving suggests she sees you as a bit vulnerable and subordinate in the relationship honestly ....

IceRoadDucker · 10/10/2016 09:03

Everybody seems to have completely over reacted.

Thank god you said that. I'm wondering what's wrong with me that I'm out of tune with pretty much everyone in this thread. I can't see what he did that was SO bad. Certainly not bad enough for the people saying they would divorce over this!

GabsAlot · 10/10/2016 09:45

he practically ignored her on her birthday!

how hard is it to say happy birthday to someone

roundaboutthetown · 10/10/2016 09:58

Not hard if they remember it's your birthday. A bit harder if you don't mention it at all when they've apparently forgotten first thing that morning when you make them a coffee.

dowhatnow · 10/10/2016 10:32

Can't you just, you know talk... so make him realise just how much you are hurt rather than sulking.

You both sound hard work to me, something greater communication should solve.
If it can't, then the problems run deeper than a forgotten birthday. If dd feels so strongly that she'd rather move out and go to a different school, then I think it this particular situation is indicative of a bigger problem.

GabsAlot · 10/10/2016 10:47

roudnabout-their dd had been planning her presents and making a cake how could he not know

user1474627704 · 10/10/2016 10:52

DD is suggesting we should leave, get a small house and she will go to a different school (no fees) to give you an idea of her feelings to him at present

I suggest you listen to her. This obviously is part of an ongoing pattern.

sianihedgehog · 10/10/2016 11:02

My god, everyone seems to have really doubled down and committed to making the worst out of some kind of a fuck up borne from working too much and talking too little. OP, it all sounds toxic as hell and I think you and DH need couples counselling urgently to learn how to be better to each other.

sianihedgehog · 10/10/2016 11:03

Roundabout - I agree, he clearly forgot and then was too embarrassed to admit it because DD had reminded him so often.

CartwheelGirl · 10/10/2016 11:06

I'm totally with teatowel on this one. You can pretend to be a special snowflake when you're 21, but at 40+ with nearly grown up kids and all sorts of hardships that life throws at people over the years, writing this off as a particularly tiring day is the most sensible thing to do.

BUT if it is indicative of a bigger problem - as it seems to be - then that needs to be dealt with. Sulking is awfully unhelpful. Get your courage up - and talk.

NannyHJ · 10/10/2016 13:07

I have never understood the popular Mumsnet concept that an adult doesn't deserve special treatment on their birthday. Why not? What's wrong with the people you care for, on a day to day basis, acknowledging your worth for one day a year?

OP YANBU. Your husband has behaved like a total arse. It was not your responsibility to organise something for your birthday, nor to remind him to wish you happy birthday when you brought him coffee.

I agree with those who have suggested that you take time to do something nice with DD but not in lieu of a birthday celebration, just because you both deserve some uncomplicated time in each other's company.

How you begin to move on is your decision. Will having some breathing space, whilst your husband is away, be enough for you to take a deep breath and let this go? If not, I don't see that you can do anything but instigate some sort of communication about it. It sucks but if you can't see yourself forgetting about it, and it seems unlikely that he will take the lead and offer up an apology, I don't see what other option you have in order to clear the air. In my opinion this is NOT YOUR JOB but, assuming you want to enjoy your life with this man, somebody has to make the first move.

defineme · 10/10/2016 13:37

In 4 years time, when dd probably goes to uni, what will you be left with? A man who is 'rarely there' and 'useless'. I am not sure your lives are conducive to maintaining a marriage, and I am not sure he wants to maintain marriage or family life either. How can you work a 60 hour week yet consider your job secondary? Do you have the same priorities? He doesn't seem to care about you or your family so imagine life without him... counselling at the very least andnot just because he didn't acknowledge your birthday.

lizzieoak · 10/10/2016 17:26

I'm with you, NannyHJ. If some of us like our loved ones to celebrate our birthdays then I don't see that the opposite viewpoint gets to posit that they are somehow more adult or selfless, etc. Not that any of you have said that, just sometimes there's a faint whiff of it.

My exh used to last about two hours, tops, on Mothers Day, before having a meltdown & storming off (day not about him, having to be nice, taking care of the kids: all too much!). So I still flinch a bit at that day. My birthday, which usually fell on a day he was at work, I'm more attached to. One day a year it's about me (without the bad memories). DS brings me a croissant and sloshes tea all over a tea-tray. I book the day off work & we go out for dinner.

You deserved no less, Desole, or (given the busy circumstances) at least an aknowledgent to and a bit of cake & pressies at the end of the day.

BoudiccaAD60 · 10/10/2016 17:31

One of the most adult, sensible and intelligent replies I've ever seen here! Just when I was about to unsubscribe too!

Brightredpencil · 10/10/2016 17:35

I can see how this happened to be honest. You weren't there for a few days (10 was it?) And then on your actual birthday you left early and then didn't see anyone til I'll by which time you were asleep.
It just sounds like everyone is exhausted.

valeview · 10/10/2016 17:36

Sorry, but all this is way way WAY more than a unacknowledged birthday, this is disrespectful, unkind, unloving, unpleasant, nasty behaviour, not just to you, but to your kids too. OK the Birthday thing has brought all this into sharp focus, but there is a LOT more going on here than a bit of cake. I feel sorry for you and your daughter, especially your daughter, actually, because she wanted to be kind and considerate, and your DH snatched it away from her. You've got problems that need addressing... sure you don't need me to tell you that though.

Jaxhog · 10/10/2016 17:41

YANBU at all.

I'd go out, buy yourself a big card, cake and super present. Then put it all next to your breakfast plate and enjoy a belated birthday. That way you'll feel better, and DH will feel guilty. At least I hope he does (he should).

Dozer · 10/10/2016 17:46

Is he nasty to you (and DD) in other ways?

m0therofdragons · 10/10/2016 17:47

I would take dd out for a day shopping and dinner out. Don't understand not being able to drive - driving the 6 hour round trip to my auntie's funeral with 8week old twins and a 3 year old in order to support my 11 and 14 yo cousins was tough but I still did it. That said I would be very hurt if dh acted like that. I think we would have chatted previously about tiredness and decided a different day to celebrate on.

Postchildrenpregranny · 10/10/2016 17:47

It is my birthday on Wednesday . We usually go away at this time of year We are beyond wanting/expecting presents as we have reached the fortunate stage that within reason we buy what we want when we want it (we are off on Sat for a UK week with the grown up DCs) . Though DH did hint he had bought me a little something the other day (rather surprisingly)I am also having a very expensive holiday without DH in Nov . However I have booked National Theatre Live theatre tickets -I wanted to see the play and it is coincidentally on on my birthday -and tomorrow will suggest to DH that we eat (out) before the theatre . Yes I will book it . Unless it is a 'big' birthday I am quite happy to organise something I want to do . It's what most grown ups do . I think you have much bigger problems in your relationship than tthe minor upset you describe

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