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Married 25 years, 3 kids. Our marriage had been suffering for several years, mostly due to me...I was withdrawn and insensitive to my wife's needs, and (I now know) that I basically emptied her Love Bank completely. I was never abusive or anything like that, but she needed much more of me than I was giving. She warned me of this, but I didn't listen.
About a month ago, I found out she's having an affair..with a guy we (wife and I) work with in a volunteer organization. She took a 'business trip' away from home and used that opportunity to meet him at a hotel...for four days.
I confronted about 2 weeks ago...I confessed my blame in basically setting up the conditions for the affair, and I want to implement the plan shown in Dr. Harley's SAA. But I am dealing with the 'mental images' part of the episode, which is interfering with my need to meet her Affection and Sexual Fulfillment needs at the moment.
She says she wants to rebuild our marriage, and we are just starting counseling.
I've read SAA cover to cover six times now...but I have some practical questions maybe you all can help me with:
1. She has agreed to seperate from the OP (Who's married also) for good (he and my wife are on opposite coasts, so that helps), but we are still members of the volunteer organization and there's a chance we would all me at our annual convention (that's where my WW and he got started on this). This organization is very important to my wife, shes pretty high up in the heirarchy....can we take precautions and still participate, or do we have to end our involvement entirely?
BTW, if I expose to the vol org (which would find out I think in any case due to our involvment there) it would prob end our participation anyway...but
2. I went for STD testing, and SO FAR its negative. But I read that I have to retest in 6 months due to the incubation period of some STDS (HIV particularly)....so, does that mean my wife and I can't have 'relations' until that second test, or can we resume relations (when I am mentally able to do so, of course).
Thanks so much for any help you can give. I am devastated and don't know where to turn.
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I'm sorry you find the necessity to join us here, but this is where you should be.
I'll just answer the questions you've asked.
1) You owe it to all the other husbands of all the other potential bed-mates of this POSOM to expose his actions to this organization. Why would you consider tacitly assisting in his conspiracy to damage another marriage as he has yours?
2) Sorry about the STD issue dude, but the possibility exists that your WW's ability to remain there for her children long-term is already at risk. Would having both parents leave them be a good thing to chance? No un-safe sex until the second screening.
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Thanks for the input. I'm sorry, but what does "POSOM" mean?
Another factor I forgot is, she has a friend-of-opp-sex (diff guy, obviously) that she, apparently, confides in about our poor marriage, and in fact I found out that she told him about her affair with the OTHER guy. I was incensed. She swears that she has no romantic feelings for this guy and I bel her (I guess), but every cell in my body is screaming that her friendship with this guy has to end also. What say ye?
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POSOM = Piece-of-(Dung)-Other-Man Acronyms And yes, as you and she travel into the new world of an MB-compatible marriage, you will understand that "intimate friends of the opposite sex" are off the table. Just between the two of us.......Is this OTHER other-man married? If so, ask his wife (privately) if she has any reason to be uncomfortable. Your WW need not know of this discussion, yet.
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No, he is not. I have met him once, nice guy (I suppose). I have no concrete reason to suspect him of anything untoward...but my WW's affair with the other guy has thrown everything into a different light, obviously.
My WW knows the 'platonic friend' through her business venture...she was on a sales trip for 'mr platonic' when she set up the liaision with the POSOM (mr platonic knew nothing about it until she told him later).
I have already told her that there will be no more sales trips alone on behalf of Mr Platonic's business...but that's not the same as talking to him or confiding details of our marriage to him.
WW understands about NC with POSOM for ever, but she won't be so willing to give up contact wit Mr Platonic.
Last edited by SadButTrue2; 01/07/13 12:20 PM.
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My friend, you are getting the speed-reader version of MB today!
but she won't be so willing to give up contact with Mr Platonic.
Ahhh, yes, the "Yeah, but I can handle it because I'm different...." WW tack! How has that worked for her fidelity so far? (You needn't answer!)
Well, eventually, you will get to the following point in discussing this:
"Honey, you will have to make a choice. Do you want a 'friendly' relationship with Mr Platonic, or a marital relationship with Mr. SBT2?"
Or, you will back down as waaaaay too many BHs do here.
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I very much appreciate your help on this, thanks so much.  I'm reading everything here as fast as I can. I just read the "When to call it quits part 1) and, sadly, the H described there fits me to a tee  To be honest, my WW should have separated from me months ago, to shock me as to what I was doing (and as Dr H recommended to that poor W). But, instead, my WW decided that, if I wasn't going to fulfill her needs, someone else could.  I wish she HAD left me prior to initiating her A, and she says she wishes she had too, but we can't undo the past. I deserve a ton of blame for this situation...a TON...I didn't understand it before, but OMG I realize it now. I'm a wreck. I'm on meds now, but they just barely keep the lid on. I want to start Plan A w the wife, but when we are together, I mostly just sit there and tremble. Can't turn my mind off....you know the drill. This guilt has me hesitating to completely expose. Our son knows about it, and our mutual confidants know (we have two other couples who are lifelong friends, and I dont/didnt mind them knowing and they have given great support and advice), plus Mr Platonic. I don't know if there are others, because the WW apparently blabs/blabbed everything about our deteriorating M to damn near everyone (ok, an exaggeration). She's always been very social, outgoing, and to my mind she's had boundary issues all along. Sadly, my withdrawal and ignoring of her needs contributed to that a great deal, I now see. Im the type that NEVER talks about personal issues to anyone...another 'incompatibility' that's an issue between us. WW, as a gesture to me, swore off Facebook UFN...I didn't specifically ask her to at the time, but she offered it up and I accepted. I know its killing her because she is one of those 'lives on Facebook' people who spends 20 hours a day on it. I know that's part of the problem too. I work the usual 40-hr week, and shes a SAHM...which means shes bored most of the time at home and thats why shes been on FB so much. Bottom line, I know no matter what she says, she can resume contact with Mr. Platonic, the POSOM, or whoever amongst her circle of opp-sex friends any time she wants, and I wont find out about it. I just don't know if any of this is worth it.
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she can resume contact with Mr. Platonic, the POSOM, or whoever amongst her circle of opp-sex friends any time she wants, and I wont find out about it.
....which is why nuclear exposure is your best tactic. Imagine every one of your family and friends not only knew about her infidelities, but in response to your carefully worded request, assumed the task of assisting you by keeping an eye on WW with you. Dozens of folks ensuring that she's not violating the boundaries that you and she will erect (post-affair they're called EPs)!
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can you send a message on FB without "friending" them? I can get to the BW's FB page, but she doesn't know me and almost certainly would not accept a friend request from me.
The POSOM knows that I know, and has certainly taken EPs to prevent HIS wife from finding out about it.
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I am, I believe, one of only two people alive today who has NO Facebook experience!
You might hop down to the "Investigate" forum and scan that for assistance, or post the question there. Or wait here and let somebody more knowledgeable than I respond.
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SBT2,
Yes if the person on facebook as set their security to allow messaging from unknown persons, then yes. Most people have left this open btw.
I sent a message to a guy who had gotten fresh with my Ws fiance that way.
God Bless Gamma
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Thank you, Gamma  NG, I just read your story, and my heart broke for what you have been through. The Lord has truly blessed your marriage's recovery from such a terrible event. Congrats on your recovery! I will never feel sorry for myself, knowing how much worse it could be. Well, I'll try not to...I'm usually down on myself anyway.
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SBT2, Welcome but sorry to see you here. Here is a link to get you started. Thread for Newly Betrayed Spouses
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You have a wealth of information on this site and thread. Please listen to what people here tell you to in order to recover your marriage. As a BH going through divorce now I wish I would of found this site sooner and things might be different. Don't be afraid of your WWs anger over the actions you will be advise to take. Good luck in your fight! I'll be viewing your thread for updates! God bless you!
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Keep your chin up! We will be your sounding board for your tough times. Let your WW's crap roll off your back and know she is not in her right mind right now. If and when her fog lifts .. she will thank you for fighting for the marriage.
MNG
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Did you expose to OM's BW yet? Who else have you exposed to? Please read. Exposure 101
FWW/BW (me) WH 2nd M for both Blended Family with 7 kids between us Too much hurt and pain on both sides that my brain hurts just thinking about it all.
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...This guilt has me hesitating to completely expose. ... You may bear some blame for the state of your marriage. However, you do not bear ANY blame, and should feel NO guilt, over her choice to have an affair. ...I work the usual 40-hr week, and shes a SAHM...which means shes bored most of the time at home and thats why shes been on FB so much. ... Then one of her extraordinary precautions is that she needs to get a job. If she's got that much idle time, she needs to get into a supervised environment.
Two parting thoughts:
(1) You need to expose the affair to their service organization. There's no integrity in a cover-up, especially if she's high-up on the board. And if integrity isn't central to you right now,
(2) she needs to resign this volunteer activity ASAP anyway. There can be no question of her remaining in a position where she will be looking forward to eventual future contact & communication with him via this organization. If she stays in that group, that will be a constant trigger for her (and for you) and will undermine your marital recovery. You-gotta-be-frigging-kidding-me, that you would even consider having her stay on with this group, when that's how she met her affair-partner. That would be a flat-out dumb move on your part. Now that you know this from people who know better, please set your requirements accordingly.
Me: FWH, 50 My BW: Trust_Will_Come, 52, tall, beautiful & heart of gold DD23, DS19 EA-then-PA Oct'08-Jan'09 Broke it off & confessed to BW (after OW's H found out) Jan.7 2009 Married 25 years & counting. Grateful for forgiveness. Working to be a better husband. "I wear the chain I forged in life... I made it link by link, and yard by yard" ~Jacob Marley's ghost, A Christmas Carol "Do it again & you're out on your [bum]." ~My BW, Jan.7 2009
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Thanks for all the input. I will do my best to take your advice, painful as it is. I'm a very non-confrontational person so this is hard.
We had our first counseling session today, the 'get to know you' part....we will be going weekly until further notice.
I will keep you updated as it goes. Thanks.
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One more thing: The counselling session(s) will prove to be a waste of your time. Counselors have as their main goal a reduction in conflict. There is nothing in their makeup to confront the wayward spouse and say "This is wrong and must stop!" Instead you will be anesthetized with "coping straegies" and "relational accommodations"! If (no, when) you start hearing that garbage, you should probably just walk out. I figure the next poster here will give you the full story. Listen to her!
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Thanks for all the input. I will do my best to take your advice, painful as it is. I'm a very non-confrontational person so this is hard.
We had our first counseling session today, the 'get to know you' part....we will be going weekly until further notice.
I will keep you updated as it goes. Thanks. SBT, I am so sorry to hear you are in counseling. Counseling is a disaster when there has been an affair. Marriage counselors are destructive to marriages. The reason is because a) counselors have no idea how to save a marriage and have an 84% failure rate, b) they don't understand the dynamics of an affair, and thusly cause harm by validating destructive wayward fog, c) counselors have a higher personal divorce rate than the general population. You typical counselor has absolutely no plan to save a marriage. Rather, they waste time focusing on "communication" and "conflict resolution" which does nothing to address the problems in your marriage. Dr Harley, on the other hand, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in saving marriages after an affair. If you follow his plan out of the book, Surviving an Affair, you will end up with an affair proofed, ROMANTIC marriage. [the book is $15 bucks and you don't have to have counseling to get the best program out there - you can get the book for free if you write his radio show and your email is read on the air] If your "counselor" does not tell you to take these basic steps, including exposure to the OM's wife, your family and friends, your marriage is not going to recover: The plan I recommend for recovery after an affair is very specific. That's because I've found that even small deviations from that plan are usually disastrous. But when it's followed, it always works. The plan has two parts that must be implemented sequentially. The first part of the plan is for the unfaithful spouse to completely separate from the lover and eliminate the conditions that made the affair possible. The second part is for the couple to create a romantic relationship, using my Basic Concepts as a guide. I'll describe these two parts to you in a little more detail. The first step, complete separation from the lover and eliminating the conditions that made the affair possible, requires a complete understanding of the affair. All information regarding the affair must be revealed to the betrayed spouse, including the name of the lover, the conditions that made the affair possible (travel, internet, etc.), the details of what took place during the affair, all correspondence, and anything else that would shed light on the tragedy. This information is important for two reasons: (1) it creates accountability and transparency, making it essentially impossible for the unfaithful spouse to continue the affair or begin a new one unnoticed, and (2) it creates trust for the betrayed spouse, providing evidence that the affair is over and a new one is unlikely to take its place. The nightmares you experience are likely to continue until you have the facts that will lead to your assurance that your husband can be trusted. An analysis of the wayward spouse's childhood or emotional state of mind in an effort to discover why he or she would have an affair is distracting and unnecessary. It takes precious time away from finding the real solutions. I know why people have affairs: We are all wired for it. Given certain conditions, we would all do it. Given other conditions, however, none of us would do it. So the goal of the first step is to discover the conditions that made the affair possible and eliminate them. After the first step is completed, the second step is to create a romantic relationship between you and your husband using my 10 Basic Concepts here as your guide. While your relationship may be improving, it won't lead to a romantic relationship because you are not being transparent toward each other. Unspoken issues in a marital relationship lead to a superficiality that ruins romance. <snip> Infidelity is not something that can be swept under the rug. While those who have affairs want to forget about it and move on, those who are betrayed must take very specific steps before they can fully recover. In your case, those steps have not been taken, and as a result, your fear persists. I will send you a complimentary copy of my book, "Surviving an Affair," if you send me your address. It will describe these two steps to you and provide you with a roadmap toward full recovery. But the path will require full disclosure of all details. The issue of exposure comes up when a betrayed spouse has first learned about the affair. Should it be exposed to others, or kept secret? I generally recommend exposure. When should it be exposed? I usually recommend that it be exposed immediately. To whom should it be exposed? I recommend that family, friends, children, clergy, and especially, the lover's spouse be informed. Exposure in the workplace depends on several factors.
"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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