Am I reading too much into this?

[Confuseddad2024]

So i will paint the picture first

Im a 32 year old dad of 2 girls ( should say angels as they are just perfect) 3yo and 2yo
my wife and I have been together for 9 years married for 6
relationship has been strained recently mostly because of finances and general parenting life but we love each other to our cores! This I am 100% sure about!

Another couple in this story Sarah and John
John has started a new job and is away from home a lot
Sarah wants kids soon but johns new job isn’t making it easy and has often commented on how lovely our family is

Sarah and I when we were teenagers ALMOST went out but didn’t and ended up barely now speaking as life drifted us apart

My wife and I and John and Sarah see each other every week in passing as we are all members of the same organisations and relationship between us all has been a BBQ few times a year and a few nights out together s part of a larger group

So!
I was waiting to get onto a plane at an airport gate and Sarah sees me and waves (not planned we just crossed paths randomly)
We were both traveling for our work but totally unrelated (I swear by this please rest assured none of this interaction was planned)

We got talking and had a bit of a heart to heart
Sarah seems to think John is having an affair of some kind (as she has found some make up on clothes etc but coudl be linked to his work also?) but hasn’t confronted him on this
We got talking at the gate and ended up talking all the way to the plane only to find that we were sitting beside eachother! (again this was not planned!!!!)

The flight was about 1 hour and we talked as the conversation got deeper and deeper (how I found about johns new job and potential affair) I saw her getting upset and we had a coffee and chatted more and more
It was a red eye flight so we were both very tired and Sarah's head started to drop onto my shoulder as I thought she was going to sleep
After the conversation and knowing she hadn’t been getting much sleep I decided to let her rest

The more she rested and the more I thought about how life could have been different (Different NOT better!!!) I rested my head on hers in more of a support/ feeling sorry kind of way
Sarah had her phone sitting on the tray table propped up for a video she never watched I looked at it and saw her eyes were open (I thought she was asleep) she didn’t see me looking but I don’t know if she saw me at all
My hand was open between ours and she pretended to shuffle in her sleep and held my hand while her head rested on my shoulder again I felt so sorry for her and i didnt know what to do so i shuffled and sat forward to "wake her up" and we chatted and laughed some more

As the plane landed and we got off and chatted through the airport we found out we were heading in the same direction and she suggested we shared an UBER we got a large van as she had quite a large bag and so did I
We sat opposite eachother and talked again and I tried to put the plane thing behind me and just chat away to a woman who I thought needed an ear

We kept meeting eyes and the stares got longer and longer until she asked me what hotel was I staying at again and I froze and said I honestly cant remember?!
the uber stopped and i got out and actually walked into my hotel like an idiot
I would be lying if I didn't say she was beautiful but again i am happily married!
but my mind does tend to wonder and don't know how to process this!

I told my wife about all of this of course and she joked about it saying “yea she’s fancied you for ages apparently” but my wife being her supporting loving person just joked about it and thought it was just a funny thing

Long story short I have no idea what to take out of this early morning interaction my emotions are everywhere, Am I reading too much into a small interaction?, Am I overreacting? Am I underreacting? is my wife acting strange not thinking more about this? am i a horrible person for even entertaining the thought of Sarah? do i talk to Sarah about all of this? do i talk to John? their relationship is already in a bad place!!

I love my wife and kids!
Please Help!

Manchester to Birmingham?
or as this is clearly a work of fiction, Fantasyland to Never Never Land?

In your dreams

Tread carefully. You didn't plan it but maybe she did. She is obviously devious (pretending to be asleep). Always keep in mind what you will lose and who you will hurt. Keep this woman at arms length.

Your wife clearly trusts you 100% do not ruin your life for someone who clearly is emotional and not in a good place keep your distance and remember you have got an amazing wife and family yes things may have been a bit strained which is understandable you have young children but the grass is definitely not greener else where if you are in a situation with this Sarah again make it clear to her that you love your wife very much and DONT EVER discuss your marital problems with her she will use this to ruin your life.

Why not pad this out a bit, have a proper sad/happy ending to it and submit it to ‘Take a Break’ or ‘Yours’? I think they pay for true life stories.

how can a one hour flight be a "red eye"?

Sounds like a story you made up mate 👍🏽

And then you woke up.

Ok so we all know the chance airport encounter is fabricated so let’s move on from that 🙄

Yes, you’re reading too much into it. However and wherever the conversation between you and Sarah took place, it is because she is feeling vulnerable in her marriage and sees your family as everything she wants hers to be.

It’s normal to sometimes feel attraction or a connection to somebody outside your marriage.

However, if you are happy in your marriage and love your wife, you ignore any feelings you have for anyone else. That’s part and parcel of married life. If not, then you separate from your wife and pursue the new relationship! You can’t have them both.

Sounds as though you are happy in your marriage and have a good thing going. The Sarah thing is an idle fantasy. Don’t say anything more to Sarah, no more little meet-ups, don’t say anything to John (?!), and focus on the great life that you have and be grateful.

Cool story bro. If you’re going to post poorly constructed fantasy scenarios, you might want to ease up on the exclamation marks; they’re really not improving the breathless teen prose.

I've never heard of a one hour flight being a red eye.

Also, how did you figure out you were both headed in the same direction and share an Uber if you couldn't remember your hotel?

What a lot of coincidences. It must be a sign you are meant to be together.

If you're going to write a story, Sarah's viewpoint would be far more interesting:

"My friend's husband ended up sitting next to me on a plane. The man really loves the sound of his own voice. I pretended to be asleep, even though it was only a 1hr flight. He still didn't take the hint and took it to be a sign that I was interested in him. What do I do?"

Cool story bro. Leave your wife's friend be and concentrate on your own family.

Next time you see her tell her how flattered you were that she felt she could confide in you and it just underlined how very happy you are with your marriage. So no drama, no embarrassment but point made that you're not the roving type.

Ok, so I was thinking that for the next chapter, Sarah could come into a huge inheritance from her (undoubtedly) cruel mother, but with the stipulation that she HAS to go and live in an old house in a remote part of Scotland? Create a now or never dynamic for you and Sarah? Mull it over. Am thinking there will be a handsome gardner further down the line but that can be fleshed out later.

Sounds like a Hallmark film, did you buy a shop or inn also?

Lol

That is the biggest pile of nonsense I've read in a long time.

Do you want people to say OMG the connection is so clear you owe it to yourselves to shag like rabbits? After all you so missed your chance as teenagers. Stuff your wife and angel children and go and have a bonk with the woman who needs an ear

You are enjoying this secretly because let’s be honest married life while great can be a bit stale and it’s flattering to get attention from someone else. You should try and put this out of your head ASAP before it develops into a massive crush (I’ve been there ). It’s reassuring that you have told your wife though.

Aye right this sounds possible.

This sounds like a whole lot of bollocks. On the off chance that it is actually true? There is literally nothing to “read” in to. If you do not want to be yet ANOTHER man who fucks around on his wife, stop talking shite with people you aren’t married to. Or. Try this. Behave in the way you would want your wife to. Would you want your wife to do this? No? Then bloody don’t. You are not special, treat your wife how you would want to be treated.

Been doing a bit of creative writing? Think Mills and Boon was left in the 80s…..

I think you need to take a course. Stories need to be realistic for people to get invested in them, and you've not actually given your main character any dilemma to solve, because nothing happened.

Dunno, but I do think you owe me 2 minutes of my time back.

No way this is real! 😂