Hello,
My head is a mess , and I am after some advice.
I have been with my wife for 10 years. We have 4 wonderful children.
Like all relationships, we both have our faults and we have ups and downs, but we have never really come close to separating.
4 months ago she went out with her friends. All was fine apart from her hangover on the following day. Unfortunately for her, she asked me to plug her phone in to charge, just as a friend text her asking “so spill the goss on you and that Mark”
My name isn’t Mark lol -
I challenged her about it, and she said it was her mate texting the wrong person. She got really defensive and aggressive and just wanted to change the subject. She was also very insistent on showing me her phone, to prove there was nothing untoward.
I still suspected something was amiss so logged on to our online bill ( we share an account ) and low and behold, there were 12 messages a random number which weren’t on the phone
I asked her again If there was anything she wanted to tell me, or if she had deleted any calls / messages. she swore on that she hadn’t…
I told her I knew about the texts…
She was distraught and started to explain - Her take being a male friend of one of the girls she was with started to chat to her and was a bit flirty and touchy, but it was all one sided – but he was very polite and nice to her. As she was going home on her own, he insisted on her number to check she got home safely - they exchanged a few drunk texts on the way home and a couple the next morning.. She admits that some of the drunk ones may have been slightly inappropriate and overfly flirty after a few drinks – but cant remember as she was drunk… …
I’m not sure if anything would have happened if I hadn’t clocked on. She swears it’s the only time it has happened.
After many hearts to hearts we discussed why she felt the need to do this, and she said she liked getting attention and feeling loved. One of my downfalls being that I don’t text her multiple times a day to see how she is, or buy her flowers as much as I used to. We agreed to move forward and both make that extra effort. If I am honest, it was the best thing we ever did… As it was like a clean slate, and we have gone a few months in a happy and loving environment…
Until last weekend. She started acting a bit distant, and started to always carry her phone with her.. I got suspicious and heard her phone vibrate when on the unit - , i saw a facebook message from a guy on her home screen.. I couldn’t read the whole thing without opening her phone, but it was a man, asking how she was I think. I never got the whole jist or content -
I decided to check once she had read the message (I’m sure people will bash me for this ) and the message had gone. I asked her about it, and she says it’s just a guy she met on a night out, but he is just a friend, and there is nothing wrong with messaging a mate. I asked why I had never heard of him, and why delete the message. her reasoning being, after the rows last time, she didn’t want to open up old wounds. This has caused big rows, as it’s a massive blow to the trust we have been rebuilding. She said that she would stop the messaging, but had done nothing wrong.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and on Monday she was active on facebook chat every 10 – 15 minutes. This went on all day until I got home from work. She admitted that she had sent a message or two, but it was just general chit chat. She had also deleted them, as they were nothing to do with me. We agreed that we needed to move forward from this, and she said she would stop the contact. She apologised for doing this but swore it was innocent chit chat. Come Tuesday, she showed as active on chat again from 9am, through the whole day. Every 10 – 15 minutes, she was active.
When I got home from work, she admitted that she had sent a few messages, and again told me they were innocent, and I shouldn’t be telling her who she can talk to. Based on the frequency of the online activity, i suspect it was a lot moe than a few. I eventually said it may have been 6 or 7. She also said she wasn’t sure if she wanted us to stay together any more.
I had a conversation with her mother, who she had also lied to. She had told her mother that she had ceased contact on the Sunday, so her mother was a bit upset to learn she was still messaging the guy.
Yesterday her mother came around as soon as the children were at school and talked some sense into her. She messaged the guy explaining that these messages weren’t healthy, and had caused some rows at home. She did this in front of her mother. She apologised last night and we need to assess where we go from here.
She swears (and I do believe her) that the content was just chit chat, and she doesn’t believe the guy had altera motives, and wouldn’t have chatted to him if he had.
My partner can suffers from anxiety attacks. It never really affects us on a day to day field, but if something crops us that worries her, she needs to resolve the issue, or it consumes her until its fixed. If she can’t sort an issue out that day, she can’t sleep properly.
Her reasoning for all of this is that things have been so good for months and because we have been getting on so well, she Is continually anxious with worry about us having a falling out, or an argument that will burst this bubble. She is saying that she has been so worried about us having an argument, that that has been on her mind just as much as how good things have been. She says she is also constantly worried that I am unsatisfied with her. i.e. if I send her a really sweat message when at work, she never knows what to write back, and then gets herself in a state over whether it will make me smile like mine made her smile.
She says she was worried about me finding out that a guy had messaged her. Because it was innocent message asking about one of her friends, she felt rude not to reply, but by replying, she felt guilty for doing it, and also worried that if I did find out, it would cause us to argue or break up. This worry then turned into anxiety and then started to make her doubt if we should still be together if messaging a guy caused such rows. To top that off, once we did start to row, she told this guy about our argument, who offered a shoulder to cry on, hence 2 days of multiple messages.
Since Wednesday, she hasn’t been on the Facebook chat at all.
I love her and trust that she hasn’t and never would physically cheat on me, but can’t get my head around why she feels the need to message other men. Because the content is innocent, she sees the messages as innocent and won’t change her view on that. She refuses to accept that these “innocent conversations” could ever lead anywhere. I’m wondering if she Is experiencing “grass is always greener” syndrome, or it is the butterfly feeling of having somebody new should interest in you.
I love her and know we can work / manage the anxiety. My concern is the need for attention from other parties. I personally don’t think this is healthy or acceptable, even if innocent.
In my head I’m thinking “grass is always greener” syndrome..
Any advise would be appreciated.
thanks