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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

my husband goes AWOL

119 replies

amals1 · 22/03/2014 21:11

I'm going to sound like the biggest loser, but I literally have no idea where my husband is. I've been married for 6yrs and have young sons but my husband walks out on a weekly basis. I'm now at a point were I don't know what to think. He won't answer calls or texts and I always beg him to come home back to us. I'm beyond pathetic!

OP posts:
amals1 · 22/03/2014 23:41

Ive been cheated on before. Not by him but my last serious partner before I met my husband. I saw those signs loud and clear. Shuffling away for calls, deleted call/text logs. I eventually found the woman and she had been with the guy for years. So I've experienced being with a cheat.

OP posts:
Lweji · 22/03/2014 23:45

Do you know how easy it is to set up another email account? I have several.
And he doesn't seem to need to contact, he just leaves.
You do not know where he is, do you? Do you manage to contact him when he's away?

She (they) could have a job or be on benefits and live locally to you or to his former home. You'd never see large withdrawals.

Lweji · 22/03/2014 23:46

It is possible he just disappears on another woman like he does with you.
Nobody challenges him.

TaraKnowles · 22/03/2014 23:48

For me the fact that he can just piss off for days without a thought to whether you would be worried would be enough. He knows that he has done it before and still does it. If he's sick he is still making you frantic, he is making you sick with worry.

Quinteszilla · 22/03/2014 23:52

Does he work? And if so, does he still go to work when he is "awol", and where does he sleep?

amals1 · 22/03/2014 23:58

Lweji,anything is possible. All I know is I could never walk away from my family. I could never lie and make empty promises. I'm just tired of being used. I feel like a part time wife. I spend hours wondering if he's Ok. That's how I know I've lost the plot. He walks out on us and I find fault in me. Having another woman would at least give me a reason why he does what he does. The not knowing is what drives me to depression.

OP posts:
Lweji · 23/03/2014 00:08

See, your mental health is good enough reason to just put a stop to it.
It doesn't really matter why he does it (or any abuser or whatever), you do what you have to do to keep yourself and your children safe and healthy.

kickassangel · 23/03/2014 00:13

You're not walking out, he is. This is him causing the problem not you and no you shouldn't be more patient. Would an employer out up with an employee doing this? Would friends put up with someone who just didn't show up when they had things planned?

He owes you more than friends or employers so why should you out up with it? If you're really not ready to say its over(and you don't sound ready) then try telling him you want a break if several months. He can come back if he is ready to commit properly. He could still come to visit his children, but under agreed conditions, not just dropping by when it suits him.

If he can't even manage that ten he is sending you a clear signal about how important you and te kids are.

He is telling you that he doesn't care about you or them. Pay attention to that.

olathelawyer05 · 23/03/2014 02:34

The certainty of some of the action being advised here is incredible bearing in that nobody has the first clue what is actually behind this man's behaviour - not even the poster herself. Even the possibility that he could be mentally ill - and I'm not saying he is - makes no difference.

Change the locks? (i.e. unlawfully exclude him from the matrimonial home?)...seriously?...people actually think this is a way forward?

If efforts have been made to try and address his disappearing with no success, then a simple decision needs to be made. Clearly you can't live like this and no point torturing yourself with what you don't know and can't control.

Tell him (face to face, voice mail, email, through his mum whatever.) that you won't go on like this. If there is no change in whatever time limit you want to set, then start dealing with ending the relationship properly and logically. None of this acting on speculative nonsense that is being encouraged by some. This is the same approach that would work for anyone, male or female, but YOU need to own it.

Snoozybird · 23/03/2014 08:37

Ive been cheated on before. Not by him but my last serious partner before I met my husband. I saw those signs loud and clear. Shuffling away for calls, deleted call/text logs. I eventually found the woman and she had been with the guy for years. So I've experienced being with a cheat.

I'm sorry but if they'd been together years then you didn't see the signs loud and clear really. Your DH is giving you different signs but because they don't match with your previous experience you translate that into being sure there's no OW.

Having said all that, even if there is no third party your DH's behaviour is no less destructive to your relationship. Marriage vows cover much more than the promise to be faithful and your DH is still breaking those vows by treating you and your DC with contempt.

StealthPolarBear · 23/03/2014 09:35

How are you doing this morning op?

lotsofcheese · 23/03/2014 10:35

The saddest thing about his behaviour is the lack of respect for you, OP. There may be reasons behind his behaviour eg stress/depression but that should not prevent him treating you with courtesy & respect.

Perhaps he is behaving badly to force you into making the decision. So he's still the "good" guy. I've seen lots of men (and a few women) behave this way too.

I hope you're ok & managed to get some sleep.

MaryWestmacott · 23/03/2014 11:11

Has he come back OP?

To answer the earlier question, yes, if a woman was regularly walking out, walking back, treating her DH like shit and their relationship and family as only there for when she wanted to play happy families, I'd say not to let her continue to walk back in when it suited her.

Your DH might have depression, which might explain why he's treating you like shit. That doesn't mean you have to put up with being treated like shit. I've been depressed, it does make it hard for you to see other people's problems, that doesn't mean you should be allowed to treat them as crappy as you like because you're mental health is the only thing that matters. What about the OP's mental health? Her DCs? Why does his being ill mean that no one else matters anymore?

Plus, just putting up with the situation is clearly not helping him, if it did, he'd be getting better. He's still doing it regularly, therefore just doing exactly the same isn't making him improve.

I stand by telling him he's not welcome to come back, that he's left you. If he doesn't want to stand by tht decision he made, then he can work at winning you back. That includes counselling for both of you, and possibly him separately, if he is depressed, going to the doctor and getting help, and him proving he's reliable before he comes back.

And I agree, why do you think there's nt another woman? He's going to another town and taking cash out, you might see his phone records, but that's only on the phone he tells you he has. You might have access to one of his e-mail accounts, that doesn't mean it's the only one he has. It's very very easy to do all the practical side of an affair, it's the time and explaining your physical disappearance that's the problem for most men, your DH doesn't have to worry about that, he just goes off for days at a time and there's no concequences for him, well - you shout a bit, then everything continues as normal.

He knows he can continue to do this to you because he knows all you'll do is get a bit upset, he'll say sorry, within 24 hours you'll be back to normal, and if he fancies just buggering off next weekend, he can do it again, and the one after, and the one after. It's completely fine - there are no negative concequences for his actions. He has decided what sort of marriage he wants, and you are letting him have it.

MaryWestmacott · 23/03/2014 11:15

oh and the 'proving he's reliable' doesn't happen while he's living in your home. He goes elsewhere, his mums? He has to work at winning you back. If he doesn't want to do that, he doesn't really love or care about you. Forcing him to work at your relationship, throwing him out, forcing him to be accountable for his movements and to be where he says he will be when you ask him, will work if he loves you and thinks that being married to you is more important than being able to just go off and do what he wants.

By doing what I and other are suggesting, you are running the risk that when faced with the choice, he'll decide he doesn't really care about you and the DCs all that much and so won't do it. It's down to you if you think it's worth taking the risk that he feels that way, and if he really doesn't care about you or his children, if you want him in your life.

amals1 · 23/03/2014 14:12

Doing good today. Its hard facing things head on, but I know that we deserve better. When he decides to return I'm going to ask for space. He needs to work on himself and he needs to do that away from us. Been alone before so I know its healthier then being in this half life as someone said before. Feeling positive.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 23/03/2014 14:14

Well done amals x

AnyFucker · 23/03/2014 14:16

Good for you.

HectorVector · 23/03/2014 17:01

Well done OP.

Jux · 23/03/2014 18:08

Splendid! Well done amals, very brave and deservedly laudable. Your children will thank you for it.

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