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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Bf doesn't understand grief

108 replies

Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 08:25

I haven't posted in such a long time but i need some perspective.
My bf and i have been together just under 18m. Do not live together but see each other 3/4 times p/w.
Recently my stepfather of 24y passed away from quite a short but intense illness. Obviously everyone is devestated.
My bf unfortunately hasn't been as understanding as i had hoped, more or less treating it as though life would be normal.
He's a weed smoker so very often falls asleep at random times and won't text me til the next day. The week my sf died, he had basically fallen asleep almost every night, tried to call him, just for a chat i suppose to help process it all. But he wasn't answering.
Fast forward to the day of the funeral/wake and i started to feel angry about him always being asleep. Said I didn't want to but i think possibly this is a deal breaker and maybe we would be better off split. Argument ensues and he starts to say he isn't coming to the wake and not to contact him for 3 days as he needs space. Well that really hurt. I respected his wishes but felt thoroughly dreadful. Now he expects us to go back to normal. Am i overreacting?...sorry its so long, there is so much more but feel I've already written a novel here!

OP posts:
StormingNorman · 27/05/2024 08:58

He’s a waste of space. One thing struck me though. You said you wanted a break on the morning of the funeral…so he essentially gave you what you wanted by not going and putting a timeframe around contact. I’m ND so that may be why I would take you at your word and start the break then and there. But it is probably best to be clearer or bide your time if this happens in future relationships.

Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 08:58

Thank you for all your replies and kindness. I think the thing for me that was hardest to get my head around was the allowance that i had been having a bad time of it. He said the argument could have happened any weekend but for me obviously that weekend was very unlike others. I didn't expect him to grieve in any way but i did expect that he might have known that I would be upset at the very least.

OP posts:
Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 09:03

StormingNorman · 27/05/2024 08:58

He’s a waste of space. One thing struck me though. You said you wanted a break on the morning of the funeral…so he essentially gave you what you wanted by not going and putting a timeframe around contact. I’m ND so that may be why I would take you at your word and start the break then and there. But it is probably best to be clearer or bide your time if this happens in future relationships.

Yes i agree. I wasn't clear with what i was saying and he's pulled me up on this. I text him back (although i think he blocked me) asking if i could come after to explain or if he could meet me (an hour or so after the argument) and said i wanted to work on things and that obviously i was a little all over the place, but he was very black and white about it and said i shouldn't have mentioned a split if it wasn't what i wanted, which i agree with. I was just at a very low point and pissed off with all his excuses.

OP posts:
NotTheMrMenAgain · 27/05/2024 09:06

Oh OP, I’m so sorry about your step-dad. 💐. My lovely step-dad died suddenly four and a half years ago, I still miss him and most days have a little moment where I think “wish dad was here” - especially as DM is now in palliative care - but I promise you the grief slowly becomes easier to bare and your life/world sort of spreads out to encompass it. As time passes the grief - which is an expression of love, really - is still a part of your world and who you are, but it becomes less central, much less overwhelming and a manageable aspect of your life.

To compare your “boyfriend” with my selfish, lying scumbag of an ex husband - when my DF died I had no idea that ex husband (who worked down in London a lot) had not just one, but two mistresses on the go there. When I called him about DF he dropped everything - including whatever woman he was with 😆- and came straight home to support me and our DC. He held me while I cried and screamed at the universe and took care of DC. This is the basic, minimum human response I would expect from any kind of ‘partner’. One of the most
selfish human beings I’ve ever known managed to respond in a much more helpful, supportive way than your “boyfriend”.

I’m willing to bet good money that your dad had some opinions about your BF that you perhaps never heard. What do you think he’d say about how your BF has behaved? Would he say you deserve so, so much better?

The BF sounds like a thoroughly pathetic addict with arrested emotional development. Who is the World refuses to go to a wake and stomps off in a temper from a funeral?! He managed to make it all about him, not giving a fuck about you and how you would cope.

You can’t have a life with this man-child. You can’t plan a future. You can’t rely on him when you need him most. As others have said, his priorities are himself and weed. What an absolute bell end of a loser.

Perhaps try to see this experience, and having the clarity to end things with this complete non-entity of a man, as a final and lasting gift from your dad. You deserve someone who adores you and will go above and beyond to support you when traumatic things happen. I promise you it’s lonelier and sadder in a shitty relationship than it is to be on your own.

You sound lovely and intelligent and your future can be anything you want to make it - but you really need to ditch the dead wood and free yourself from this, frankly, absolute fucking self-obsessed dickhead.

merrymelodies · 27/05/2024 09:06

I'm so sorry for your loss, OP. My stepdad died last January and my family and I are still grieving. This so-called bf sounds like an arse and that's putting it mildly. Get rid of him - he's horribly selfish.

Acommonreader · 27/05/2024 09:07

Sorry for your loss. Get rid of the stoner- he won’t change and the rest of your life will follow this disappointing pattern. Take care of yourself and look forward to a future with someone supportive.

imnotsickbutimnotwell · 27/05/2024 09:08

You lost me at weed smoker….get rid of him he’s a selfish waste of space.

Condolences on your loss.

Devilshands · 27/05/2024 09:09

He’s not a weed smoker.

He's an addict.

You do not need this in your life, OP. You’re far too young to throw it away on a man who prioritises himself and his drugs over you. From your updates he also sounds manipulative. You deserve better.

So sorry for your loss!

StormingNorman · 27/05/2024 09:27

Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 09:03

Yes i agree. I wasn't clear with what i was saying and he's pulled me up on this. I text him back (although i think he blocked me) asking if i could come after to explain or if he could meet me (an hour or so after the argument) and said i wanted to work on things and that obviously i was a little all over the place, but he was very black and white about it and said i shouldn't have mentioned a split if it wasn't what i wanted, which i agree with. I was just at a very low point and pissed off with all his excuses.

He should have tried to be more understanding. I hope you managed to not spend the day distracted x

Startingagainandagain · 27/05/2024 09:32

He is a selfish, weed-smocking waste of space.

Dump him. He brings nothing to your life.

Juliet194 · 27/05/2024 09:39

One of the few positives about grief is that it tends to be an excellent filter for any shitty people in your life.

Get rid. ASAP. Then block and delete his number.

Lurkingandlearning · 27/05/2024 09:50

Even small children understand when someone is upset and will often try to comfort them.

If he never shows empathy and compassion to anyone in any situation he is probably a psychopath. If he is only like that with you then he doesn’t like you let alone love you. Stop wasting your time on him

Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 09:51

I think deep down i always knew i was putting more into the relationship, but i really did love him. The weekend after (so, this weekend) he went to a festival with his friends. I was initially invited but then told i wouldn't like it because there would be a lot of heavy drug use (I'm not into drugs but each to their own) so essentially uninvited . I obviously wouldn't have gone this weekend anyway as it turned out but he admits he had a great time and hoped i was having a great time too (bit soon, still visiting my mum daily to check in as shes still understandably distraught). It made me feel worse. Not strictly his fault as i suppose i wouldn't expect someone to miss something like that, but the fact that he was there with his whole friendship group dancing and having fun just shows me how far apart we are atm and really, his lack of care and or understanding

OP posts:
NotTheMrMenAgain · 27/05/2024 09:56

For the love of all of the gods, OP, everything
more you say about this tosser makes him sound even worse! He had a ‘great time’ at his heavy drug taking weekend festival and hoped you were having a great time as well? W T actual F. He has the empathy and emotional
intelligence of a house brick.

Please move on and don’t waste much more head space on this selfish loser.

Birch101 · 27/05/2024 10:02

Defintely put him in the past and move on.

I'm sorry for your loss, my step-dad passed away just over a year ago and the other night we were watching TV in bed and I was shattered and under the weather and looked quite teary and my partner asked if I was OK, having sad/bad thoughts basically checking in, he looks after our little one when I go the GP for support. Whilst he has no experience with mental health/grief of a parental loss I know he has tried to be supportive, and that includes when it comes to my mum too.

Take care of yourself and your family and when your ready find a grown up who is both physically and emotionally present for you x

IfMichaelMosleysVoiceWasWrittenasMusicalScore · 27/05/2024 10:05

There are some people in life who can't stand when something takes your full attention away from them so they will do anything they can to make the situation all the worse. I suspect even without the weed this dick would be one of those.

I'm sorry for your loss @Starlive23 Flowers

INeedAPensieve · 27/05/2024 10:10

Juliet194 · 27/05/2024 09:39

One of the few positives about grief is that it tends to be an excellent filter for any shitty people in your life.

Get rid. ASAP. Then block and delete his number.

This is so so true. Grief gives you perspective on the things that matter. When my sister died I was devastated and I remember one of my friends saying my grief (including the two years of hell we went through as she went through cancer and various surgeries) was not as bad as her "grief" about her BF splitting up with her because my sister didn't "choose" to leave me.

I was struck dumb at the time by the insensitivity of the comment I actually don't think I said anything back. However that was the beginning of the end of the friendship for me. There were other bad behaviours but that stuck with me the most. We no longer speak and she's out of my life. A mutual friend has also done the same with her, for her own reasons but we were shown her true colours.

I'm so sorry about your step dad and sending love. Grief is hard and make sure you surround yourself with the right people now and dump this man. 💐

Starlive23 · 27/05/2024 10:38

I never expected so much support from people i don't know, especially hearing all the experiences of grieving. I know what i have to do. Won't be easy as he knows how to get me back on side but I'd be lying if i was to say our relationship could ever recover from this

OP posts:
Apileofballyhoo · 27/05/2024 10:38

OP dont get to your late 30s or 40s with kids and a useless waste of space non supportive partner. Regardless of the choice of drug this man is an addict. I assume if he was constantly drunk you might be more aware of what a massive problem it is. I dont know what age you are but at his age with a long term girlfriend the conversation should be starting to be about the future. Any decent non addict man would have been by your side helping to get you through a difficult time. Even plenty of decent people with addictions would have been more supportive. This guy adds nothing to your life. He doesnt help you.

Are you paying for him on nights out or stuff you want to do together?

Spend some time on yourself and figuring out why this kind of treatment is acceptable to you. I used to go from one relationship to another without seeing the wood for the trees even though I did counselling and so on I still deep down didnt believe I deserved better. Read the relationships board on here, you'll see all the women who deserved far far better but didnt realise it until they had kids with some useless selfish arsehole.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

PonyPatter44 · 27/05/2024 10:42

I am sorry for your loss. You've had brilliant advice here, so I will just add, your boyfriend is a waste of oxygen. A 31 year old stoner is a pitiful thing. Get rid.

PBandJ111 · 27/05/2024 10:45

It’s not that he doesn’t understand grief, he’s just a selfish dick who doesn’t care about you to respond in a normal way by supporting you. Dump him for good.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 27/05/2024 10:50

He’s probably very messed up and depressed and is using the weed and sleep to escape daily life which he cannot bear. He needs help to get off the weed and fix whatever the underlying issue is he’s trying to shut out.

However it’s not your job to give that help. If you think I might be right, dump him firmly and clearly and tell him honestly and candidly why, and that he absolutely needs to get help. But walk away and never go back.

lilybloom2 · 27/05/2024 10:51

So sorry for your loss

I was married to a man like this
It doesn't get better it gets worse

Weed isn't the harmless smoke it's often portrayed as

HcbSS · 27/05/2024 10:53

Get rid of this disgusting waste of space.
so sorry for your loss.

CadyEastman · 27/05/2024 10:55

I'm so sorry about your DSF, losing a DP can be so hard can't it.

You've asked of you are overreacting, I'd say you are massively under reacting and you need to kick him out of your life completely. He's not bringing any benefit to having him in your life whatsoever. You deserve so much more.

I wouldn't even bother to tell him, just block him, tack some time to grieve and plan a few nice things to do, even if it's just a walk or a chat with family Flowers