Tina,
I never crossed that line, but my wife did. Now I know exactly how much it hurts to be betrayed.
As I mentioned earlier Bonnie and I spent 6 years of our marriage with very little love and interest between each other. I was certainly frustrated and often wondered what it would be like to be with other women, not just sexually but to be “in love.” During the first 4 years of our marriage I was always interested in sex, and often frustrated because I couldn’t get Bonnie to sleep with me more than once every couple of months. It felt like she had sex with me to appease me, not like she actually wanted me. Then when I finally quit wanting sex (because it was painful to ask and I was so resentful of the poor state of our relationship), Bonnie becomes interested. She would make sexually leading comments and try to initiate sex, but there was still no improvement in our relationship. Because of this I didn’t have any desire to be with her at all. I know this bothered her, but how could I sleep with someone who constantly made me feel so bad?
One evening Bonnie asks to talk about “us” so we sit down and she informs me that she would like me to move out while we seek marital counseling. I didn’t understand why I had to move out. Isn’t the person that wants to be separated supposed to be the one to move out? I felt like I was being punished and that I was the one at fault for our problems. I told her I didn’t see my moving out as an option and that I felt that separation doesn’t solve anything. If we were going to work on our problems then we needed to work on them together.
The next day I ended up not going to work, mostly because I was so upset by the notion of separation. When I got home I got to wondering why all of a sudden she wanted a separation. I began to think about how much time she has been spending with a guy friend from work and how she texts him constantly. I’m a fairly trusting person by nature, but even this caused me to wonder. I told myself to trust her, because Bonnie needs good friends. Well my insecurity won out and I looked at her email. To my horror I found that she had hidden a bunch of love letters from her boyfriend, describing their kissing, holding each other, and professing his never ending love for her. Strangely there was nothing from her, which means she was trying to be sneaky and delete her sent items. Except she missed one where she wrote to him stating, “I want you darling! You are a blessing in my life. Sweetest dreams Darling.” Even writing this my feel a huge weight of pain on my heart.
How could she do this? How could a person be so cruel? I was crushed, I still am. I feel so worthless, so lied to.
That evening I confronted her with her adultery. At first she just sat there calmly and didn’t say much, only that he made her feel beautiful and loved. As if to say it was my fault that she did this. I told her I don’t feel beautiful and loved, but I haven’t gone out and betrayed her. As the discussion moved on Bonnie became upset an professed to dump her boyfriend and work on our marriage. I actually felt renewed hope for the future. We even made love that night. How stupid I feel looking back on that and thinking we would be ok!
The next month consisted of weekly counseling sessions. I would leave these sessions energized. I felt like there was a chance that we could not only repair the damage, but having the kind of marriage I’ve always dreamed of. Except, Bonnie wasn’t buying it. She would ask me, “What’s the point?” I wouldn’t know what to say, the point is obvious, can’t she see that? I felt affectionate towards her, but she was distant and standoffish. One day she told me, “Saving our marriage for the sake of the kids isn’t a good enough reason.” What? Not good enough? Saving our marriage for the kids isn’t only good enough it’s one of the best reasons there is. I knew right then, that it was over.
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