In the scheme of things his "crime" is not that bad, but the deceit has left me devastated.
He was a smoker when we met. I have never smoked, so can't begin to understand the pull it has. He gave up so we could get married - mainly to save the money to make it possible, but also because the thought of what it does to his health terrifies me. That was 17 years ago.
About 10 years ago, I found out he had been smoking secretly for a few months. I was devastated that he had been deceiving me but also went through a lot of other feelings. I was distraught at the thought he would choose to increase the chances of making me a widow and furious that he had been spending our money in this way.
He was apparently devastated to have upset me so much, gave up again and would never do it again.
Roll on another 6 years to when DS1 was 3yo. DS walked into the kitchen with cigarettes and a lighter he had found in Daddy's rucksack. It was as if the bottom had fallen out of my world that time (prob an over-reaction, but I had DS2 6mo)This time it wasn't just me he was hurting but the boys too. He was spending money we didn't have, risking the possibility that they would be left fatherless, all life cover had been taken for non-smoker so if he did go, they may not pay....but again he had been deceiving me. It was a truly horrible time. He cried and cried and promised never to do it again. I left him with a clear understanding that if he did it would be the end for us.
I really thought he had scared himself that time and never thought it could happen again. Recently I have had some concerns, suspicion of the smell of smoke and he's gone off sex (which happened each time before, I like to think because he was ashamed, but I don't know)When I asked him about it he was mortally offended that I could even suspect him...then this morning when I was tidying up the clothes he'd left on the floor (not normal he'd been for XMAS drinks last night) a lighter fell out of his pocket. He didn't even admit it when I asked him about that - claimed the fags I'd found in his bag (I hadn't even looked) belonged to someone else, but he has now admitted he's been smoking since October.
Now, I know it's an addiction and if he needs help with that, I'll do my best to support him, but I really can't deal with the lying, the fact that he knew that if he did it again it could well break up the family, the money thing again, the risk that the life cover won't pay and a real fear that if he can lie about this I can't trust him on anything.
Generally, I think our marriage has been pretty good. Ups and downs, like you do, but a lot more good than bad and downs have been times when things weren't great, rather than were really bad iyswim. He's a good father (apart from the lies) and I can't split up the family over it, but I feel like the rug's been taken out from under me. Not really looking for advice atm, just trying to order my own thoughts, so thank you for listening, if you got this far.