Thanks for your insight everyone.
Welcome to SR, Tinkerbell. You've found a wonderful place and I hope you stick around.
Wraybear, I can not believe I haven't ever seen that Saturday Night Live quote on these boards before !! How appropriate !!! You made me laugh.
I think that maybe, since I've been away from my AH, I've come to realize that other people out there in the world think I'm a great person. Empowering me is not to his advantage. I will probably never get validation or approval from him. It's not because I'm not a great person - it is just the way it is. Maybe once I stop looking for that, I will realize that I don't need it.
I think it's important that I understand this and why it happened so that I can establish boundaries to keep it from happening again. You've all helped me to begin to do that and I thank you all.
Hugs - L