Replies to 'Defining Your Authentic Self'

Lyne, Ritehere, Brenda, Grub48 and Kimbrem, 

I want to thank you all for your feedback.  You are all correct, honesty in a relationship is vital, and Grub48, I appreciate the way you described the 4 sides of honesty in a relationship.   

I listened pretty hard to my "gut", and I had an epiphany as to why I was feeling this anger.   

When my ex-husband and I divorced, he was very angry and possessive.  When he realized I was not going to stay, he started to sabotage my relationships with my family by telling them I was doing drugs.  Now, I don't do drugs and had no intention at the time.  Because of the nature of divorce, I lost some weight during that time.  He used this as a reinforcer for his claim.   

This hurt me deeply, as even my own parents believed what he was saying.  I guess I have not recovered from this at all, as even writing about it now brings me to tears.   

When I saw the distrust in my boyfriend/mate's eyes, it hurt just like it did with my parents.  I know I wasn't drinking, so I am not hung up on that so much as the distrust.   

Once I realized where the feelings were coming from, I was able to open up and talk about them to him.  He understood, and we recognized the distancing and we stopped.  We made special efforts to be closer and spent much of the day just appreciating each other.   

As far as the smell, well, I had 2 take and bake pizza's in the back seat that had been rising the whole drive, and had been drinking lemonade, so we think the yeast smell mixed with the lemonade caused a "boozy" odor.   

I want to thank everyone for their feedback again, as I don't think I would have handled this near as well without it.  Thanks again! 

Teri