I don't know, ... there are a few times I think maybe I should have just ignored him, continuing to sleep late and doing less work around the house. We could have been just like our parents, with their marriages lasting for over sixty years. They were dour old couples, sniping and complaining about each other. And in some ways, those dour old couples would probably have less stress than I do now during these eight- or nine-week periods. But they didn't have the options we do with modern medicine.
Where my husband and I were headed wouldn't have been nearly as much fun as we're having now. It was his sniping and complaints about not enough sex which started the ball rolling! And although I must endure his anger and bitching, well, for two out of every three months, it's worth it! I'm just balancing the bad with the good.
Dave and I married shortly after high school over thirty years ago. We had been a couple for so long in school, everyone knew we were perfect for each other, and destined to be together. We had the usual trials in our marriage over the years, but always got through them. He was my "one and only" sex partner, and I seemed to satisfy all his needs ... until lately. It didn't happen suddenly, but our issues built slowly over those last two or three years, when he eventually complained I was no longer doing what he needed.
We still did everything else together, almost business as usual. Living in this small rural town, we'd go out on date nights about twenty miles away for dinner and a movie, dancing at nightclubs, or to the local high school plays or football games. On weekends, I'd go into the city shopping or get my nails and hair done. And Dave would go out with his local buddies to their gun range shooting once or twice per month.
His shooting club was a bunch of his fellow computer geeks from work and a few other guys they met online. But on those shooting days, they were the 'Good Old Gang' with six-shooters, dressing up in cowboy boots and Stetsons. And Dave taught me to use that handgun. I only fired it a few times, learning enough to be safe when handling the gun in the house, since he insisted on keeping it handy in the living room.
"Burglars avoid houses, when they know the owner has a gun," he claimed.
I think burglars avoided our area because the county Sheriff was elected for his zero-tolerance policy and was rumored to 'look the other way' when someone else was dealing with a known criminal. So, no one bothers the houses around here.
I insisted that if Dave wanted the gun out in the living room, it must always be unloaded, with the ammo kept in a locked box. I wanted to ensure there were no accidents when the kids, or now the grandkids were around, or when anyone else was visiting. And I learned to tell when it was unloaded just by looking at the revolver cylinder's empty holes from the front.
But that was his toy, almost like a security blanket. We might be sitting in the living room, watching TV, and he would be casually cleaning his gun. I just shrugged thinking "That's life in the country."
***
After Justin (our youngest) left home to go off to college, I lost interest in the house and all of that 'family' stuff. I don't know why. It just seemed like with no kids at home, when I came in from work it was
'Why bother?'
The kids had always been my incentive to do things around the house, setting the example for them to keep their own homes neat and clean! My husband mostly did his part to help, which I appreciated. But it just seemed like there was now less importance to any of it. Almost like, "If I don't do it, Dave will handle it, or it doesn't really matter."
I know, all of the arm-chair psychology experts are thinking
"See a doctor"
about it. Or
"It's depression due to the empty-nest syndrome."
Or maybe
"It's menopause, are you getting hot flashes?"
When I talked to a few girlfriends at work, Rhonda piped in with
"It sounds like you need pellets. They did wonders for me."
I didn't even ask what she meant by "pellets", because we all know Rhonda's a slut and we don't pay any attention to her advice.
Well, I already went through early menopause, so I'm done with that. And I did talk to my regular doctor about my lack of energy. She said, "It just comes with age. For a fifty-year old, you're otherwise in good health and great shape. Just keep up your exercise regimen."
The only problem with the exercise regimen is that I am in great shape, and it gives my husband ideas. He gets suggestive and demanding about once or twice per week wanting sex. With my issues of dryness since menopause, sex is now uncomfortable for me. And it's not just bothersome. It's messy, and sometimes even a little painful. So, I just don't want to do it anymore!
It was just life, as we were getting older. I was getting older and losing interest in the boring routines of the same old sex and getting lethargic from lack of energy. Dave just didn't seem to be getting older at the same pace, his sex drive diminishing, but still higher than mine.
Then that fateful day started the ball rolling ... and the aftermath.
'Be careful what you wish for, Dave!'
Problems
He came into the kitchen from his Saturday morning at the range, setting his revolver on the table along with the locked ammo box. I was in the kitchen, bending over to get some frozen fish out of the back of the freezer, when I felt it. He quietly stepped up behind me and was rubbing his crotch against my legging-covered ass. I just jerked my butt to the side a little, saying "That's really annoying! I'm trying to get things ready for dinner."
"Dinner could wait," he suggested, as he again tried to rub his obvious hard-on against me. "And I'll take you out to that Italian place you like, ... later."
So, he's trying to buy me, like a whore! Now, I felt like having sex about as much as I'd like to stick a frozen fish in me! "I'm not feeling it, Dave," I replied angrily.
"I
need
it, Carla!" he insisted.
"No, you don't
need
it, you
want
it," I corrected him. "I took care of you just a few days ago."
"That was three weeks ago!" he replied in a raised voice.
It seemed like it was yesterday to me. But, whatever! "You can take care of it yourself," I pointed out. "I told you, it's uncomfortable for me!"
"I want sex with a real woman," he said a little disappointed.
Real? And just any woman? He didn't say my name, like I'm not a real woman! I didn't say it, I know what he meant by that remark. It just came across like waving a red cape in front of a bull! And my anger was building.
"I want to feel it slide inside a woman," he said, as he ignorantly doubled-down on his 'any' woman remark!
He raised his right hand to my face, running a finger over my lips, and I angrily jerked my head away. "I'm not giving you a blowjob!" I almost shouted, knowing what he meant. "I shouldn't have to do something I don't want to do, just to make
you
happy. What about
me
being happy?" Then I had to throw gas on the fire with his implied
'any woman'
by adding; "Or are you threatening to go out and find it somewhere else?"
"Are you telling me to?" he asked, dropping that bomb on me.
"Maybe you
should
go fuck someone else!" I said angrily. But I know he'd have problems finding another woman, unless he's willing to pay her.
So, here we are warily staring at each other, ... Stalemate!
Dad sometimes called it a
'Mexican stand-off,'
when he watched those old western movies. A group of men, all pointing guns at each other, and waiting to see who would shoot first. Or equally matched gunfighters, staring each other down.
The word "Happy" are the guns Dave and I were pointing at each other, and now we wait. Only one of us can remain standing with a "Happy" gun in hand. The other must back down or pull the trigger. And I know it's coming!
"If you
LOVE
me," he began ... as he fired that bullet!
"Bullshit!" I quickly shouted, interrupting the rest of his argument, shooting back with my own gun. "If you
love ME
, you wouldn't make me do something I don't want to do!"