catbird --<p>I'm very glad that you've found this board and you can be certain that we'll help you all we can. <p>You have to hang in there. You cannot see the total picture at this point; you don't know what's around the corner. Things look bad right now but continue to hope and to pray and to love him and work on what you can. You can't control him anyhow; you can control only yourself, so that's what you work on. Counseling for you will help not only you but potentially your relationship = a win/win thing. Read the Plan "A" material here on this site (as I suggested before). <p>My thoughts: He's not "in love" with OW; I know it and you know it but he thinks he is, so he's acting on it for now. Actually, I agree with him that he can't (won't be able to) work on your marriage while he's involved with OW. His statement about "can't love both at one time" is generally how these things work (even though he's not in love with OW). When and if he gets clear of the affair, physically and emotionally, then he can get reinvolved with you and your marriage, but usually not until that time. <p>So, it's a waiting game of sorts for you but you can't sit idle. This is the time to work on yourself and get some of your anger and grouchy issues addressed.<p>Of course you love him and want him to stay and work on things with you. You say, "He doesn't care about me or our marriage anymore so I guess It is over....." Remember that you're involved now in a process and it has to run its cycle, play itself out. Today, that's what things look like; tomorrow...? Today he doesn't care about your marriage or you. Today it looks like it's over. You don't know the outcome here. My experiences have been that it's far too early in the process to be able to say anything concrete or definitive. I'm not trying to give you false hope, but a more realistic view of the whole picture--which isn't complete yet. <p>It's very hard to know what to do or what the "right" thing is. I'm glad that you want to forgive him and the A so you can free yourself and move on but, as you said, he doesn't want to hear that right now. His attentions are elsewhere and he thinks that your forgiveness doesn't matter, but it does, for you and for him (he just doesn't know it yet).<p>Read all you can here about how these things generally go. Most A's are dead within 6 months, either dying a natural death or one participant ends it. Could you hang on that long--or longer? None of this will be easy or pleasant, in fact, it will be very painful and traumatic. Is your marriage worth that pain? I'm trying to get through exactly what you're going through and I'm still hanging in since my d-day back in August. My W's A began last spring so I'm already over the average time limit. Things don't look like they're going to work out for me in my case but you're too early to tell. <p>Please post again soon; I'm concerned and want to help. I'll be on and off this board most of the day and into the evening. Remember, your H is in the "grass is always greener over there" phase, but we both know that that is rarely the case. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Be strong.<p>Ammon