Bravo! Bravo! Mrs. O !!!!! You RULE!<P>I am sooooooooo proud of you. You're so brave and so RIGHT!<P>I haven't seen you much on the board, Hon. I think about you alot ... you seem to be okay ... has God been wrapping His loving warm arms around you and giving you the strength you so badly need and deserve? I pray so.<P>You take care and stay on this board and post so I know how you are. Plus WE NEED YOU here.<P>Love,<BR>Jo

resilient,<P>I don't post on this forum much any more, but I saw this thread and read it. I can say a bid DITTO to your words. It is exactly the same with my h's ow. And this ow was cheated on by her fiance many years ago and declares that she hates adultry, but for the sake of 'this big love' I guess she has forgotten how it feels.

My mother was a lot like the woman that Bystander described - she repeatedly slept with MM, and even fell in love with one that she had an affair with for 7 years. He kept saying that he would leave his W to be with her, and she would always tell him, "Don't you dare!", and tell him how good his W was for him and that he would never do any better. Go fig, huh? His wife was like an aunt to me, and it was hard not saying anything, but shoot, this was my MOM!<P>But my mom also was terribly abused throughout her childhood, sexually, emotionally, and physically. Not that it's an excuse, but it explains a little bit. While she has always been an extremely fun person, she always felt that she was meant to play doormat to men because of her upbringing, so she let MM pursue her.<P>I'm proud to say that she finally found a decent man who treats her wonderfully and loves her to death. They have a great relationship, one of the most solid ones I've ever seen. She told me that she is sorry about the hurt that she caused the wives. She isn't placing blame, she's taking responsibility and moving on.<P>Is she a bad person, she's made mistakes, has asked forgiveness, and moved on. And I will have words with anyone who says otherwise. She's a beautiful person, inside and out, so no, not all OW are monsters.