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New here, brief overview of our marriage: We've been married almost 36 years (since high school) and have 7 children together, 3 are still at home, ages 10-15. We homeschool and I don't work outside.

Last couple years my husband has been increasingly distant from the children and from me. He has separate friends, his cell is on another couple's plan, he spends much of his off time somewhere else. As he says, he makes the money and I take care of everything else. I've been increasingly uncomfortable, suspicious, and jealous.

So I started snooping on his phone. Apparently there is one woman in particular. I confronted him Feb 27, after he was in bed doped up from a medical procedure and incautious enough not to delete his texts. He didn't want to admit it, then said it was not really an affair because he says they never actually had intercourse. I about had to drag it out of him, and he uses not wanting to hurt me as an excuse for his lack of openness. He says he doesn't intend to keep up the relationship, but he won't make a definite commitment to that. ALL he will promise is that he will tell me if he contacts her, but she called him while we were in the car together the other day, he got rid of her, deleted it, and then waited a few days to tell me.

I wanted to see a counselor. Nope. Suggested a book from the library (Surviving An Affair). He's "read most of it, and doesn't really think it will help" but has reluctantly agreed to spend Saturday afternoons privately with me to work on this or something else toward rebuilding our marriage. The feeling I get from him is that he doesn't want to change anything about his life; but I should get over it and trust him again.


Well, I am devastated!! I can't not cry, I can't pretend I'm OK. I tried an antidepressant, but had to stop because of hand tremors, and I have another appointment next week to get something different.

Anyway, I have the book and a cornered husband. Start with chapter one and read aloud? Start with questionnaires?



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Originally Posted by ozarkdebbie
He says he doesn't intend to keep up the relationship, but he won't make a definite commitment to that. ALL he will promise is that he will tell me if he contacts her, but she called him while we were in the car together the other day, he got rid of her, deleted it, and then waited a few days to tell me.

Hi Debbie, welcome to MArriage Builders. I am sorry for the reasons that brought you here.

I would not attempt to get him to fill out questionaires, read a book or go to a counselor because none of that will be of any effect if there is an ongoing affair. Your first order of business has to be to kill his affair. Kill the affair and THEN you will have a marriage to save.

The way you kill the affair is to expose it wide and far. Exposure is the most powerful weapon you have against the affair. It will kill about 50% of affairs dead right away. In others, it hastens their death because affairs thrive on secrecy. It has the effect of bringing in a crowd of onlookers to the crackhouse to watch the crackheads get high. It is no fun to get high when every one is looking!

Who is the OW? Is she married? What does she do for a living? WHERE does she live? Does she have a facebook page?


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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Originally Posted by ozarkdebbie
He says he doesn't intend to keep up the relationship, but he won't make a definite commitment to that. ALL he will promise is that he will tell me if he contacts her, but she called him while we were in the car together the other day, he got rid of her, deleted it, and then waited a few days to tell me.

Telling you about contact misses the point. His affair is an addiction and every contact triggers his feelings. It is like a "recovering" alcoholic telling his spouse every time he drinks. The result is still the same: he is drunk. Your marriage cannot recover until he ends contact for life. PERIOD.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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Check this out, from Surviving an Affair by Dr Bill Harley:

Originally Posted by Dr Bill Harley
If your unfaithful spouse is unwilling to end an affair the right way, I know of a way to help speed up its demise: Expose it. Your own family should know: Your parents, your siblings, and even your children. The family of your spouses lover should also know, especially the lover's spouse. The pastor of your church should be informed as well. Exposure of an affair is like opening a moldy closet to the light of day. Affairs do well when they're conducted in secret, but when they're in full view for all to see, they appear as they are -- incredibly foolish and thoughtless.

Even if exposure were to be ineffective in ending an affair, I'd recommend it anyway. The betrayed spouse needs as much support as possible, and exposure helps friends and relatives understand what's going on. Keeping an affair secret is no real help to anyone. But I've been amazed at how well it dismantles the illusion that affairs rest upon. Instead of assuming that the relationship is made in heaven, an unfaithful spouse quickly senses that it's a one-way ticket to hell on earth.

The first reaction of an unfaithful spouse to exposure is to try to turn the tables on the betrayed spouse. "I will never be able to forgive you for hurting me this way. Don't you ever think about how I'd be affected by this?" Of course, it's really the affair that hurts. The exposure simply identifies the source of the pain. The unfaithful spouse should be the one begging for forgiveness.

In spite of the suffering that an affair inflicts on a betrayed spouse, during this period of exposure he or she should try to make as many Love Bank deposits and as few withdrawals as possible. If you argue about the affair, you'll damage recovery. Insist on the unfaithful spouses complete separation from the lover (no contact for life), but don't fight about it. I call this strategy to end the affair Plan A.

If exposure itself doesn't end the affair immediately, my advice regarding what to do next is usually different for husbands and wives. I encourage husbands to try to stick to avoiding arguments and meeting their unfaithful wives' basic needs (Plan A) as long as possible (six months to a year). But I usually encourage wives to separate after about three weeks if their husband is still in contact with his lover. My experience has taught me that the health of most women deteriorates quickly and significantly while living with an unfaithful husband. Men, on the other hand, tend to be able to weather the storm longer with fewer emotional or physical effects. I call the strategy of complete separation Plan B.

In addition to avoiding health problems, a separation also helps a betrayed spouse hang on to what remains in their spouse's Love Bank account. Daily interaction with an unfaithful spouse causes such large withdrawals, that a separation with no contact between spouses can actually help the marriage by temporarily freezing the betrayed spouse's Love Bank. When the affair is over, the betrayed spouse is less likely to divorce when the unfaithful spouse wants to give the marriage a chance to recover.

Yet another advantage to separation is that some of the basic needs met by the betrayed spouse suddenly disappear. This is especially true when a couple has children. An unfaithful spouse often overlooks the betrayed spouse's contribution to the family. While the lover may meet two basic needs that were unmet by the betrayed spouse, the betrayed spouse may have been meeting the other three that cannot be easily met by the lover. During a separation, the unfaithful spouse can become acutely aware of what he or she is missing.

When a betrayed spouse decides that it's time to separate, I recommend complete separation with absolutely no direct contact (Plan B). The unfaithful spouse should be given the choice of having contact with the betrayed spouse or the lover, but not both. Someone should be appointed to go between spouses, delivering messages and children during visitation. But until the unfaithful spouse promises to completely end the affair, with absolutely no contact with the lover, the separation should continue. After the separation has lasted two years, with the unfaithful spouse's contact with the lover continuing, I generally recommend a divorce.
here


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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Who is the OW? Is she married? What does she do for a living? WHERE does she live? Does she have a facebook page? [/quote]

I really know very little about her. First name, phone number from his phone. She is married and has children at home. She lives in this general area, but I don't have an address. I know who her former employer was (my husband was a customer where she worked). Her name is spelled unusally, I will try facebook. I wonder if I should just ask him for more information.

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Originally Posted by mercyhope
I really know very little about her. First name, phone number from his phone. She is married and has children at home. She lives in this general area, but I don't have an address. I know who her former employer was (my husband was a customer where she worked). Her name is spelled unusally, I will try facebook. I wonder if I should just ask him for more information.

mercy, I would not ask your husband for any more information. Just see if you can get her address, phone # and her husband's name. Plan to contact her husband and tell him about the affair. If you can find her facebook page, copy and paste all her contacts into a WORD doc for safekeeping.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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Originally Posted by MelodyLane
I would not ask your husband for any more information. Just see if you can get her address, phone # and her husband's name.

I can't think how to do that. I would need more info from somewhere.

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Try www.intelius.com

Try going on to your county auditor's web page and searching her last name. If they own a home, you should find his info there.

Have you checked to see if she has a Facebook page? Find her page and copy all of her friends to a Word doc. One of them may be able to help you when you are ready to expose the affair.

You do understand that you need to expose this, right? To anyone who can help put pressure on them to end it. Her husband is your prime target.

Mercy, don't talk to your WH about Marriage Builders and don't let him know about this site. This site is your most valuable tool right now.

Click on the link in MelodyLane's sig line and get started. We'll try to help you get your husband back.


D-Day 2-10-2009
Fully Recovered and Better Than Ever!
Thank you Marriage Builders!

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Originally Posted by mercyhope
Originally Posted by MelodyLane
I would not ask your husband for any more information. Just see if you can get her address, phone # and her husband's name.

I can't think how to do that. I would need more info from somewhere.

What about calling her former workplace and asking for her last name? Say you are trying to decipher her last name from a piece of paper and see if they can tell you. Or say something like "I am trying to reach skanky jjjjj..... Hmmm I can't read this last name" and hope they will just say it.

Can you ask your husband without giving away your exposure plan? Because he can know nothing about it in advance.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101



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