10
   

15 year affair with married man

 
 
tcook
 
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 08:01 am
I can't get over him. It started in 2002, we got caught by my then husband in 2003. Married man told his wife about it. I stayed in my marriage and he stayed in his. I had only been married for 9 years, he had been married for 24 years. He is 13 years older. We broke it off to save our marriages but found ourselves doing it again about 9 months later. And kept it going from Feb 2004 to January 2014. We worked together, talked or texted everyday for the last 10 years. He is the love of my life as he said I am his. We had a very deep connection. He traveled a lot, for work, and was only home on the weekends. So, it made it easy for me to see him. We found time for mini vacations and everything. In the fall of 2011, I asked my then husband for a separation. We ended up getting a divorce that we both wanted. He was never able to get over the affair when I got caught in 2003. He had no idea I was continuing the affair. At the end of 2011, married man somehow told his wife that he was cheating with me again. All hell broke loose. She was devastated. He said he didn't love her anymore. That he wanted a divorce. The first half of 2012 his wife was trying to save the marriage. Bad fights between them, lots of issues. He said he wasn't having sex with her anymore but I confronted him in April 2012 and he said he had a couple of times that year. His kids are grown but somehow got involved with the situation because of the wife telling them. They were devastated about the affair. They understood that their parents grew apart but having the affair didn't help. So, everything came to a head in July 2012 when married man, his wife and their grown daughters got together to discuss the situation. And the wife threw out there...if you divorce me, you can take your mom with you. His elderly mom has been living with them for 20 plus years. I guess married man thought his wife would take care of his mom if he divorced her so he could still travel and do his job. So, he told me that he had to stay in the marriage because of his mom. That he couldn't take her out of that house because she would die. So, he continued to tell his wife that he was only staying for his mom. He told his wife that we were not seeing each other anymore. She wanted to know why then he couldn't try in the marriage if they were both trapped. He told me he was doing the bare minimum with wife. Mostly family things. Kids, grandkids over, etc. I caught him in many lies. I stopped asking if he was having sex with her because I figured he was. If not every weekend...enough. I think he thinks he was doing it to pacify her so she wouldn't divorce him. Because if she divorced him he would have to deal with his mom. We continued to see each other and have a great time. 2013 started and it was a rough year because of my nasty divorce. I still found time to spend multiple days in a row with him when he was in town. We still worked together. He lives in another state...3 hour drive. He came in to my town about once a month or more because of work. We almost ended it a few times in 2013 because we were fighting so much. I was stressed about the divorce. I was getting upset that I couldn't spend weekends with him, holidays...you know the things you don't get when you are having an affair. And he was continuing to do things with his family which included his wife. He still slept in the same bed as her and said that if he didn't, it would raise a red flag. I said, doesn't not having sex with her, raise a red flag...he said no. Probably because he was having sex with her. We got into a huge fight in Oct/Nov 2013 and almost ended it but one of us would always call the other one and beg to stay together. Then we decided that things needed to change. He said, you are going to be divorced soon and on the other side and I'm not going to be able to give you enough. I think he was finally living in reality and not fantasy. I had been living in reality all year. I wasn't asking him to leave his wife. I was asking him to do the bare minimum with her until we were able to be together. I guess I envisioned my single life of him being there when he could and I would continue to live by myself and raise my children. Well, we met in January 2014...I believe at this time, we had seen a part of each other we didn't like...when we were fighting. I met him at his hotel in town and decided that we couldn't go on like this. I asked him if his wife would be surprised to find out that he was having an affair and he said yes...I told him that's all the answer I need to know that he has been living a normal life with her. I said he was a liar and coward. So, I left the hotel room. Got into a fight on the phone with him when I got home. Then sent him her facebook profile picture of the two of them...didn't look like a couple in a troubled marriage. I felt duped....15 years with this man in an emotional and physical relationship. I ended up calling his wife the next night. She knew who I was. She was surprised. He called me and screamed his head off. I basically told him that she deserved to know. Then I sent her an email and apologized for my actions of sleeping with her husband. But also threw in some details she didn't know...he has tattoos that represent us. So, we cut it off. No communication. I finally reached out to him at the end of May 2014. He was surprised. But we talked for 4 hours. We argued a little. I told him that he's doing exactly what I said he would do...go back to his marriage. Because all of 2013 he said he wasn't going back to his marriage, he was staying because of his mom and then he was going to leave his wife, whether I was in the picture or not. I miss him terribly. I know I made a mistake by calling his wife. I feel that if I didn't, I would have him in my life in some way...even part time. But what does that say about me? I also found out that he sent an email to his kids saying he was going to make the marriage work. He's all about his kids and thinks that if he gets a divorce, they won't be there. I think he just wanted his cake and eat it too. But I still miss him. I know he's probably bending over backwards for her. She's an idiot for staying with a man who was in such a deep relationship with someone else. And they are traveling and doing more together...stuff she has wanted for a long time. I don't think I could be with a man knowing that he is only doing stuff with me because he's not with his affair partner. I am so confused here. I pray to God every day that this man gets a divorce and we find each other again. Sorry for this long saga...just wanted thoughts.
 
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 08:04 am
2002 is only 12 years ago.
Ragman
 
  -1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 10:12 am
@contrex,
Now there's some useful help. She really needs someone to correct her typos or math issues.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 10:21 am
@tcook,
You have my sympathy and empathy. This is long term mistake. Don't compound the mistake by continuing to wait for him or pine for him.

He had demonstrated his inability to commit to you long-term. You've made yourself available but he has not. You couldn't commit to your ex hubby, were dishonest when you continued the affair, but you seem to be left out in the cold. What are your good options now?

Some of those other family details are hard to follow but with all the other involvements with his family and his wife's actions, he may have been manipulated but that is non-essential. Ultimately, he made his bed...and he has to lie in it.

Quote:
She's an idiot for staying with a man who was in such a deep relationship with someone else.

That should be irrelevant to you. Who cares what she thinks or does? This is now the time you need to focus on yourself and not in terms of what he, they or his family is doing. You'd always be the 'other woman' and that would make your life with him hell if he ever did return to you unattached.

What do you want in your life? The statue of limitations has been reached with this affair. Time to cut your losses and move on with your life. Stop waiting for him to leave her. Even if he does, he's not someone with whom you can find that 'forever happily ever after' kind of commitment.
timur
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 11:19 am
Ragman wrote:
The statue of limitations has been reached with this affair.

These hieratic poses have periods of prescription. Wink
jespah
 
  4  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 01:10 pm
@Ragman,
Ragman wrote:

....
Quote:
She's an idiot for staying with a man who was in such a deep relationship with someone else.
...



I have little doubt that the wife is saying the same thing about the mistress.

News flash: this guy considered his own job more important than you. He also could have hired a caregiver for his mother.

But this wasn't about his mother, or his wife, or his kids, or even about you.

It was about money, honey. Because he knew she'd clean him out if he filed. He wanted to keep his cash.

And he wanted it more than he wanted you.

Still wanna pine for him now?
Ragman
 
  0  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 01:41 pm
@jespah,
Well done and well said. You read more than I did. Frankly, because of how poorly it was written with no para breaks (and how lazy I was), I couldn't pierce it too deeply.
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 01:52 pm
@timur,
Now there's a new word for me..
thanks, timur.
(I'm just reading along)
jespah
 
  2  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 01:58 pm
@Ragman,
I admit I skimmed it, too, but the minute I see long-term affairs and no one making a move to leave (and providing lame excuses not to), I think cash.
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 01:59 pm
@ossobuco,
I also agree with Jespah.

My take -
Cut all this out now and move on. I understand it's not easy, but you have years ahead of you to be happy if you make room for it and let this go. Really letting it go will take a while, and you have to watch out for rebound attachments, y'know, just to have one. Good time to spend time with yourself on your own, getting to reattach to who you are and what you want to do in your life, and what are the things that really interest you, and then get involved in those.. a kind of private rejuvenation time.
0 Replies
 
Pearlylustre
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 03:31 pm
@tcook,
Quote:
She's an idiot for staying with a man who was in such a deep relationship with someone else.

So are you. Move on.
0 Replies
 
Ragman
 
  1  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 03:37 pm
@ossobuco,
I had looked it up, too.
0 Replies
 
Romeo Fabulini
 
  0  
Reply Sat 5 Jul, 2014 03:51 pm
Married women have fluttered their eyelashes at me in the past but i've never taken on because I'd never want to share them with their hub.
Call me oldfashioned but "affairs" seem sordid squalid things to me
0 Replies
 
luismtzzz
 
  1  
Reply Sun 6 Jul, 2014 01:56 am
@tcook,
Jespah nailed it.

Don´t you realize in what situation you had been living all this years?

He has been confortabily having a married man´s life. Expending quality time with daugthers and grandchildren. Holidays and birthday parties. While you had been 3 hours away alone waiting for crumbles of his time.

You should forget about him. But not for his wife neither for his daugthers. You should do it for yourself. For selfsteem for selflove for selfrespect. Because my dear you had been used all this years by a manipulative, selfish, shameless son of a blip.

You now what kind of excuses a cheater gives to his (or her) spouse? (try to imagine this with his voice)

- she means nothing to me
- she was just a meaningless adventure
- i was just confused
- she was nothing more than a sl*t that offered herself to me
- my family is first
- you are the must important woman on my life
- i rather be death than without you

And the list can go on, and on, and on.

Seriously, learn to love yourself a little. And try to rebuild your life. Do not keep waiting for a serious relation with him, because it is not going to happen.
0 Replies
 
firefly
 
  1  
Reply Thu 10 Jul, 2014 03:53 pm
@tcook,
Quote:
I can't get over him...I still miss him.

I pray to God every day that this man gets a divorce and we find each other again.

If you believe in prayer, use it to help you let go of this man so you can move onto other relationships, so you can find one with a man who will be totally committed to you, something you never had in your affair.

Pray for the courage to let go of this man, and the strength to deal with the pain of his loss in your life, and the determination to find someone more worthy of your love and devotion.

Whatever you felt for this man, you can feel for someone else--the capacity for those feelings is within you.

This man has always been unobtainable, perhaps that even contributed to the excitement of the relationship for you, there was always the drama of whether he'd leave his wife, the illicit nature of the affair spiced things up, and you never had to live with him on a day in day out basis, your time with him was largely confined to the romance and sexuality an affair can offer during these "stolen moments". You were able to settle for that before, but honestly, I really think you do want more in a relationship now, and more than he is willing or able to offer, something he also realized.

He never really duped you before, you duped yourself into believing him, for well over a decade, way past the time a light bulb should have gone off in your head telling you that his actions were inconsistent with his words--he was always fully involved with his marriage, and his wife, and he had no intention of ditching those things, no matter how much he enjoyed his relationship with you, and no matter how much he told you that you were the love of his life, you were not his main priority. That realization may sting, and be painful, but it will also help you to let go and move on.
Quote:
I know I made a mistake by calling his wife. I feel that if I didn't, I would have him in my life in some way...even part

That's your only regret about calling his wife--that it drove him away? Your rage over feeling duped by him led you to do something very callous and hurtful and malicious toward someone else--his wife--because you were trying to use her to get back at him. If that's the toxic effect this relationship has on you, you should regret a lot more than the fact that phone call caused him to back off even more--you should regret, and try to change, the kind of person you're turning into.

Let it go, tcook, allow yourself to mourn the loss, just as if he had died. Do not reach out to him or try to communicate with him again, let it go. It's time for you to move onto a new chapter in your life, with the promise of new relationships in it. You'll never be able to do that if you allow yourself to remain emotionally connected to this man. Stop nursing your regrets, and your anger, and your hurt feelings, and your desire for this man. This affair was good for a time, but it's clearly not good for you now. You really don't like being "the other woman" in a married man's life, you do want someone whose main commitment is to you, and, after 10-12 years, it's time to realize that it's not going to happen with this man. Let him go, so you can move on and find happiness with someone else, and convince yourself that's possible, because it really is.
dishy57
 
  1  
Reply Fri 9 Mar, 2018 05:36 pm
@firefly,
Hi, I just wanted to tell you that after so many years of memories and declarations of love, a divorce that tore your family apart, and all the heartache you've been through, I encourage you to walk away and begin your life anew. You have plenty of time to find your own path, one that doesn't include this man. I say this because I am in the same situation, with a few different details. Fifteen year affair with a married man, only staying with a wife who doesn't want sex with him because of the family obligations, not enough money to divorce her...blah, blah, blah. Our relationship has dramatically changed since he has now found new life in his re-born Christianity. A pious, holier-than-thou kind of Christianity that makes him sound like a raving cult member. I am a faithful Catholic, but his religious crutch has come between us, as has his wife, whom he won't ever leave. I'm completely out in the cold, sidelined, and feel unimportant. It wasn't always this way. Now he has a retirement plan, has bought a second home in AZ, and is moving forward. I've asked him to meet me on Wednesday so I can end everything. I don't want any more contact, even though it hurts so much knowing his life is going along without me in it.

so you have my deepest sympathies for the pain you're going through. I know it, and it's real. that said, we both went into affairs with married men knowing the outcome might not be what we hoped it would be. We are responsible for that and more, but that doesn't mean we can't come out of it better. It will be well. Christy, [email protected]
0 Replies
 
sandy100
 
  0  
Reply Sat 25 Aug, 2018 01:15 am
4 years later I wonder what's happening now?
0 Replies
 
 

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