Thanks again everyone for your caring.

Sandra, I'll stand up to anyone but only in the past few years have I learned how to NOT fight. Not everything is worth the energy, especially if it's the 5,389th time he's started the same stupid fight. My husband craves attention regardless of how he gets it, and my biggest weapon is walking out. I'm taking off for a week or two in June without him, to go to a poetry festival & crafts fair in Berkeley, and then visit a few friends. He's upset that there are fewer and fewer things we do together, but I do what I need for my own happiness.

In a sense this sounds sad to me too, but I don't feel particularly sad. Life goes on, and I'm OK.