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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

help

521 replies

spook · 25/01/2004 13:14

Please help me. I discovered last night that my husband of 10 years who I love to distraction is having an affair with a young beautiful work colleague whom he says he loves.We have 2 boys aged 4 and 7 and were up until a year or two ago the greatest love story.
I have suspected this affair for a long time and given him countless oppurtunities to come clean.He has lied and cheated for a year.
Please help me.My life is crashing down.

OP posts:
dottee · 13/03/2004 00:58

Just got back from a girlie Indian night with plenty of lager, Lambrini and take-away.

Spook, 'now ex' really used to get hacked off when I went on nights like this!

There is a better way!

We toasted you!

xxx

spook · 13/03/2004 07:59

Thanks dottee!

OP posts:
Janstar · 13/03/2004 08:50

Hey, Spook, what did you do last night?

spook · 13/03/2004 09:22

Hi Janstar, I went out to a funky restaurant with lots of friends and plastered a smile on my face wishing that I was home by myself or even better with a loving husband in a quiet restaurant being adored!! But I do realise that just the fact that I was there was a big step.
I have got butterflies and the shakes now because I know in a few hours I'll have to face him and hand over the boys.
Yesterday was a lovely day though-I was thoroughly spoilt but to be honest it's all a bit surreal. How should I respond to him today.Just smile and be calm and quiet?

OP posts:
Janstar · 13/03/2004 09:46

I guess you'll just have to handle it in whatever way you find easiest. I can't say, because what I might find would help me, might not work for you.

If it's going to be upsetting for you it would be best to keep it short and to the point.

tigermoth · 13/03/2004 16:16

hope the butterflies have flown now, spook, and the meeting with your dh did not get too upsetting.

A belated happy birthday to you.

sobernow · 13/03/2004 16:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dottee · 13/03/2004 18:45

I hated handing my kids over when we first split up. My mind worked overtime when they were away. It's no good saying you've got to occupy yourself because it's hard doing so and it's only natural to worry about your children when they're away.

I hope it went OK today. Thinking of you.

Also, glad your friends were there for you last night. Have any of them been in the same situation?

spook · 13/03/2004 18:50

It's just shit shit shit.I know he's only been gone a week but it was the same cold bastard (who I happen to love very much) that I saw today.Still seeing her,still on the defensive,still with no answers,still can't love me the way I want him to. I'm going out in half an hour and I just want to scream till I can't scream anymore.

OP posts:
Janstar · 14/03/2004 09:48

Spook, I think the best thing you can do now is to shift the focus off dh. You are going round and round in circles and it must be so exhausting.

If he ever comes back and returns to being the husband you love and want it is certainly going to take time. Probably months. Any way you look at it you have a wait on your hands.

You have spent the last ten years absorbed in being a wife and mother, building a home and caring for other people. What happened to Spook while all this was going on?

I want you to do something for me, please. I want you to think about the ambitions you had when you were a teenager. What was your heart's desire - for yourself? To paint, to write, to ride a horse, travel to India, learn to sign, swim the channel, make a patchwork quilt...etc etc.

I am hoping there is something unfulfilled that you have shelved in favour of caring for others.

Find that unfulfilled ambition and start working on fulfilling it. In my experience this will be a catharsis for you, and will shift your focus off dh on to yourself, it will give you something in which to lose yourself, and it will help to redefine you as an individual.

When your deepest desires and ambitions begin to be fulfilled, life will once again become a rich and satisfying experience.

collision · 14/03/2004 09:53

Janstar.......you are such a lovely person and your message gave me goosebumps! I think I will try and find my unfulfilled ambition too! Spook will cry when she reads your message.

spook · 14/03/2004 10:08

Hi Janstar,
I hate to say it but I fulfilled all my ambitions when I met DH and had my boys. Our love was so perfect that nothing else mattered.I know I have to dust myself off-he is absolutely destroying me.And I know whatever conclusion we draw it will take months. But I am falling apart.I can't stand it that he's with her and that he doubts his love for me and that all those things we had and did we may never have or do again.It's just not getting any easier.It's getting harder and harder as any semblance of my life before floats away.Where did he go????

OP posts:
collision · 14/03/2004 10:13

Spook......you have to remember the woman you were before you met H (not DH) and you must focus on that. And your boys. Why dont you take them out somewhere really fun today and try and keep your mind off everything else? Dont let HIM destroy you. He is a pig even if you do still love him. Whatever you think things will NEVER be the same again and I think you must try and prepare yourself for that. Looking at your firstpost on 25 January, this is all still new and raw and you must take things slowly and not try to dwell on him with her. Do you really want him back after all the hurt he has caused you? HUGS

Janstar · 14/03/2004 10:22

As long as you continue to define yourself through him you will not be able to get over this. Being his wife and the mother of his children is not all there is to you.

I'm asking you to dig deep and find your own essence. That is why I suggested going back to thinking about the teenage years.

Should you redefine yourself on your own terms, independently of him, it will not in any way stop you from loving him in the future. But it will make it possible for you to feel valid and happy without him as well.

I'm also thinking about Blu's post of 11 March, where she talks about her mother's managing to redefine herself as an indivual being the factor that helped her mend her relationship.

Unless you know who you are and that you can live your own life without dh, how will you ever be able to risk being with him again. He should not be able to destroy you like this, it makes you too vulnerable.

collision · 14/03/2004 10:29

Spook.....please can you do a new thread as there are 515 messages and it takes ages to reply to you. Sorry to be a pain.

Janstar · 14/03/2004 10:32

collision, I was just thinking the same thing.

spook · 14/03/2004 10:39

Ok-I will.XX

OP posts:
kitty737 · 14/03/2004 10:58

You are worth more than this. You deserve someone who appreciates that gift that he has been given. What is the current situation.

Lots of hugs

toot · 14/03/2004 13:48

Remember to post the name of new thread so we can all move with you!

dottee · 15/03/2004 09:26

Spook - are you OK?

Janstar · 15/03/2004 09:33

I'm going to start that new thread for you now Spook.

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