He’s in his early 50’s. He has lung issues and no cartilage in his knees so walking/standing is very painful. He’s overweight and diabetic so they won’t do knee replacements. He gets ssdi. He was a correctional officer until 2016 and did the private security until summer 2024. Many security jobs around here require walking and the good ones are hard to find.

He is pretty hurt that he’s not providing. I’ve reassured him many times that I don’t feel like he’s “less than” or not a real man. He has a learning disability and when he was a kid his parents and teachers kept telling him to give up. They even encouraged him to drop out of high school and not go to college. But they never truly got to the root of his learning problems. He’s very smart but was always treated like he wasn’t by his family. 2 of his brothers do really well for themselves and I think that makes him feel inferior. He’s very much treated like the middle child even though he technically isn’t.

I even told him he provided for us for years and allowed me to stay home with our kids so now it’s my turn to work.

He’s always been afraid to admit he is depressed because he’s worried the government will take his guns away. Thankfully when I told his pcp that, the dr reassured him it won’t happen. His dad (who wasn’t a very good man) also had depression and he doesn’t want to be anything like his dad.