DriGuy and Sasha, thank you for your kind words about my writing. I've always found it much easier to write than to talk.
FeelingGreat wrote:
the trick is how to stop her pressing your buttons
and my mind went DING DING DING. I do try to keep my interaction with her as minimal as possible, and I think our relationship has somewhat improved because of that. However, she still does send me on a tailspin when she tries to pull a stunt last week. A good friend of mine asked me, "Why should you let that bother you? It obviously doesn't bother her." And she's right.
Sasha, I've spend so much time trying to figure her out. And I'm getting to where you are, which is... What's The Point? At the end, her choices are her choices, her abuser's choices were his choices, just like my favorite color is blue and yours may be green. There may be a motivation for those choices, but that same motivation may spur someone to a different action. Why are we the way that we are? Who knows.