Thank you EmotionsR... it helps to hear the other side of the story from a male perspective. Its not that I want to do this to get back at him for anything or to hurt him (which, let's face it, isn't possible) with this. I think these feelings possibly even arose as a response to all the stress? Sex for me is sometimes an affirmation - I need to feel close to him when something bad happens - a death, etc., whereas he is the opposite. And so I abide by his wishes because in such instances it can't be easy for him to pretend to want sex whereas I can pretend it's no big deal.

And probably going to my hometown and getting hit on, feeling somehow validated, churned up the issue even more for me. But now that some time has passed, its subsided somewhat.

We're going to a wedding on Saturday. I was joking around saying that I was going to have a great time flirting with all the single firemen there - the groom is one - and my husband, who ordinarily would have laughed, was kind of like, um, what? He got a little annoyed, so I had to backtrack and say that they all would probably have wives or girlfriends. So judging from that reaction alone, what he's feeling about himself and his body, etc., really are in the forefront of his mind. I suppose I have to give him a few more months to slip back into his old self.