+1 OP you don't want this to be true but it is |
I can't tell you how bad it sucked to share every single holiday and life event splint into two. Every major event became exhausting and over stimulating for me and by the time I was 18 I barely came around for any holiday for a good 5 years. I was so so drained. I was 8 when my parents divorced. Just because its rapidly common doesn't mean its ok or your kids won't suffer. |
As a child of divorced parents, the only way I would leave my marriage is if there was addiction, abuse (physical or emotional), or some other very serious issue like cheating, committing a crime, etc. I don't expect things to be easy and I don't expect to have the same feelings toward DH that I did when we were newlyweds. But I think there is something to be said of the commitment, respect and love that comes from building a life together (note that that kind of love is often different than the love you feel early on). If I wasn't happy in my marriage, I see that as something I have control over. Chances are, whatever issues are causing me to be unhappy would follow me into the next relationship unless I addressed them head-on. |
Spot on. |
So.Effing.Trasy |
Yes!!! It's scary how many adults seem not to have a good grasp on this. I guess it doesn't make good material for romantic comedies...which is really too bad. In any long term relationship, there are some times where love is a choice. You reap what(where) you sow. The type of all-consuming in love feeling you have with your AP is entirely inconsistent with a lifelong, day in and day out, kids and house and schedules and finances and stress and just plain boring daily life, relationship scenario. Think of this: currently, you are putting your best foot forward / being your best self in interactions with your AP, and putting all of your effort into your (fun, exciting, fantasy) relationship with him. You like the fun and exciting and wonderful light he sees you in. If you were to actually move in together and get married and just have to live out the mundane crap of life with each other, you would no longer have this dynamic long term. You just wouldn't. You wouldn't be just saving your best self for him, and neither would he |
He already blew up his family for you, pretty shitty that you get to continue with both worlds. |
OP, I think you need to find out if AP truly loves you. Can he commit to sticking around without benefit of matrimony for the next decade? After your kids are grown you can leave your DH, who certainly knows on some level what you are doing. |
so do you f*ck your husband the same day after you've f*cked your AP? |
OP, it seems you decided to stay with your family, which is a good decision.
As your AP has left his wife and wants to be with you "legitimately", there may be an expectation on his part that you will leave, too. Be very careful managing this. He may get very angry that after he proved his commitment to you by leaving, you refused to follow. I wouldn't put it past him to tell your DH and then it would REALLY suck. Men rarely come back from cheating, although your situation has more chances of forgiveness because your AP actually wants to be with you. |
Jumping on the bandwagon to agree with this statement. Well said, pp. My parents divorced after an affair. I always heard (and believed) the whole "affairs are a symptom, not a root cause" thing. Then I had one. Spent a year in a double life, with my marriage getting harder and harder. Eventually decided that my affair was getting in the way of repairing my marriage (I know, duh, but things can be so much harder to see clearly when in the middle of it). Finally ended the affair and recommitted to my marriage. Now I have a wonderful relationship with my spouse and can't believe I ever thought otherwise. OP, you have to choose. I can't tell you which path is better, staying with your husband or leaving for your AP. But you can't continue with the double life - it'll destroy both relationships and tear you apart. Pick one and double down on it. |
I'm not actually one to talk, but leaving your spouse for your AP is just going to trade one set of problems for another set of problems.
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Why do you ask? |
How can you claim to have tried when you have been having an affair for 3 years? Trying would have been stopping things with your AP 3 years ago and giving counseling a real chance. you haven't done that. You just put on the appearance of trying |
How dare you claim to care about your kids well-being when you have spent the last 3 years not caring about them. |