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Coping with Infidelity Relationship recovery from the destructiveness of infidelity.

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Old 08-03-2012, 01:16 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Default Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

OK, so WS broke our vows. Do the rest of you feel like you're not really married anymore because of this? Like until the WS renews their vows it's not really valid? Does that make sense?

I had to pick up a wedding card today and it made me want to puke! Personally, since he kept his betrayal from me for nine years I feel none of those years count.

Like really how many years have we actually been married? Eight years or seventeen?

And I don't feel I should wear my rings anymore until he makes it good again.

Just wondering if others feel the same way.

I think he needs to renew the vows to me, then I start thinking he didn't take them seriously the first time, so what good is a second time gonna do... Then I think if he renews do we pick up at nine years for our anniversary? Silly thoughts I guess.
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:09 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

I have to completely agree. We have currently been together 13 years now but the first 12 was filled with his cheating. I wish I could say it was an A here or there but it has been ongoing for the first 12 years and I feel like a fool thinking that he truly loved me and that we were happily married. I feel its all been a lie and even if we try to continue to R, what will it matter truly. I don't wear my rings anymore because they are just a hurtful reminder of how gullible and blind I was. I don't even think renewing vows would change the hurt and the pain he has caused.
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:17 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

Each one of us is different. If his betrayal is a dealbraker for you, like it was with me and others, then no amount of secondary vows will suffice. Nevertheless, there are others who want to make the effort to R for their own piece of mind, and for this reason we should NOT denigrate them for viewing a renewal of vows as a sign of burying the old marriage and giving birth to another. Just my two cents.
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Old 08-03-2012, 02:50 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

I agree with the OP - I began the divorce process with the intention of doing it whether we reconciled or not and told my WW what I was doing.

As it happens, I still can't divorce her because of a legal mess up but as soon as that is sorted it is straight back to plan A for me.

If she proves herself I might re marry her, but as it stands she broke the vows and, as far as I am concerned, we are no longer married.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:04 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

My STBXW left and had an affair and wanted to keep me on the backburner. D papers were filed a while back and is proceeding. I am still married on paper as well, but not in spirit.

I have my own place, my own bank account, my own bills, and a wonderful girlfriend. My family knows about her (except for my w and kids) and they think she's the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have NO qualms about being with her...none. My w broke our wedding vows, they are null and void. As far as I'm concerned I can do as I please with no regrets, and I have none.

Technically, I suppose I am also having an affair. But I just don't see it that way. I did everything I could to save my marriage; w was having none of it. So I now live my life for me and haven't looked back. At some point, we have to take our own happiness into consideration and stop living for them and live for ourselves.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:19 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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If she proves herself I might re marry her, but as it stands she broke the vows and, as far as I am concerned, we are no longer married.
Chris, you're a braver man than me.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:23 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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Originally Posted by hurtingbadly View Post
OK, so WS broke our vows. Do the rest of you feel like you're not really married anymore because of this? Like until the WS renews their vows it's not really valid? Does that make sense?

I had to pick up a wedding card today and it made me want to puke! Personally, since he kept his betrayal from me for nine years I feel none of those years count.

Like really how many years have we actually been married? Eight years or seventeen?

And I don't feel I should wear my rings anymore until he makes it good again.

Just wondering if others feel the same way.

I think he needs to renew the vows to me, then I start thinking he didn't take them seriously the first time, so what good is a second time gonna do... Then I think if he renews do we pick up at nine years for our anniversary? Silly thoughts I guess.
Did he cheat 9 years ago and then stop? Or did he cheat for the entire 9 years?
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:32 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Did he cheat 9 years ago and then stop? Or did he cheat for the entire 9 years?
As far as I've been told a ONS nine years ago on a business trip and then a possible EA with a coworker (Doubts on the extent of the emotions and if it really wasn't a PA, he will admit he shouldn't have been that close to a female, but won't admit to anything else.) The EA ended four years ago. Personally, now that I know about the ONS I doubt all his business trips moving forward from the ONS nine years back. DDay about ONS was ten months ago.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:36 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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As far as I've been told a ONS nine years ago on a business trip and then a possible EA with a coworker (Doubts on the extent of the emotions and if it really wasn't a PA, he will admit he shouldn't have been that close to a female, but won't admit to anything else.) The EA ended four years ago. Personally, now that I know about the ONS I doubt all his business trips moving forward from the ONS nine years back. DDay about ONS was ten months ago.
Well... if it was 'just' a one night stand 9 years ago I would not consider the last 9 years a loss. Sometimes even good people do really really really stupid things.

Often people who cheat are advised, even by counselors, to not tell what they did. The reasoning given is that the only reason for telling would be to get rid of their own guilt at their spouse's expense. So they are advised to protect their spouse and make it up to them every day by loving their spouse more. This is very common advice.

How did you find out about a one night stand years ago? Did he tell you? Why now?
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:46 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Well... if it was 'just' a one night stand 9 years ago I would not consider the last 9 years a loss. Sometimes even good people do really really really stupid things.

Often people who cheat are advised, even by counselors, to not tell what they did. The reasoning given is that the only reason for telling would be to get rid of their own guilt at their spouse's expense. So they are advised to protect their spouse and make it up to them every day by loving their spouse more. This is very common advice.

How did you find out about a one night stand years ago? Did he tell you? Why now?
Well, we've been to one MC and three IC and all had the attitude he shouldn't have told me. I'm afraid this has given him the excuse to not be completely honest with me.

I had been reeling for several years over a positive HPV test I had. I kept on him cause I thought it was from his coworker. I came on here, got the idea of the poly, threatened him with it and he finally broke down and said he never touched the coworker, but had a ONS nine years ago. I still feel I haven't been given the entire story, though. He says the ONS was a BJ, it doesn't really add up.
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Old 08-03-2012, 05:51 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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And I don't feel I should wear my rings anymore until he makes it good again.

Just wondering if others feel the same way.

I think he needs to renew the vows to me, then I start thinking he didn't take them seriously the first time, so what good is a second time gonna do... Then I think if he renews do we pick up at nine years for our anniversary? Silly thoughts I guess.
hb,

Not silly at all. There is no playbook carved in stone for R from a betrayal like infidelity.

I too rejected the idea of renewing vows with my WW. What's the point, they obviously meant so little in that she would serially cheat for years without ever feeling remorse to stop.
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Old 08-03-2012, 06:16 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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Well, we've been to one MC and three IC and all had the attitude he shouldn't have told me. I'm afraid this has given him the excuse to not be completely honest with me.

I had been reeling for several years over a positive HPV test I had. I kept on him cause I thought it was from his coworker. I came on here, got the idea of the poly, threatened him with it and he finally broke down and said he never touched the coworker, but had a ONS nine years ago. I still feel I haven't been given the entire story, though. He says the ONS was a BJ, it doesn't really add up.
Why doesn't a ONS w/BJ add up for HPV?
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Old 08-04-2012, 08:15 AM   #13 (permalink)
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Why doesn't a ONS w/BJ add up for HPV?
Cause the chances of him contacting HPV from this girl only giving him a BJ is extremely small. Now, the S*$T had just had sex with his buddy so who knows... He says he doesn't know if she gave his friend a BJ, too only knows they had intercourse.
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Old 08-04-2012, 08:18 AM   #14 (permalink)
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hb,

Not silly at all. There is no playbook carved in stone for R from a betrayal like infidelity.

I too rejected the idea of renewing vows with my WW. What's the point, they obviously meant so little in that she would serially cheat for years without ever feeling remorse to stop.
But, don't you also feel the marriage isn't legit if the vows were broken? I'm torn. I feel he needs to renew, but think they won't matter cause they didn't before. Weird.

Also, he told me he wanted to renew them when he was still in trickle truth mode. So he would have renewed them even still lying to me.
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Old 08-04-2012, 08:54 AM   #15 (permalink)
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Default Re: Don't feel married anymore, except on paper?

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But, don't you also feel the marriage isn't legit if the vows were broken? I'm torn. I feel he needs to renew, but think they won't matter cause they didn't before. Weird.

Also, he told me he wanted to renew them when he was still in trickle truth mode. So he would have renewed them even still lying to me.
hb,

I am sitting exactly 3 years (dday Aug 5, 2009) from finding out my wife had been secretly serially cheating with men for 6 years running.

To tell the truth... during those first 6 months after exposure I don't really know what I believed was true anymore. 3 years in R has given more prospective.

... The marriage we had prior is over, Dead, the vows, the rings, the promises, and sadly a lot of the memories good and bad have been destroyed by her betrayal. It was that bad.

... While I know a lot about what happened. Probably more than most, I will never know the whole truth. It was so painful for my wife to tell me what she admitted to. I know deep down there is more. I still wonder from time to time, but I no longer ask. I know enough.

... In R if you do accept the wayward cheater back into your life, you have to accept them as they are. While I fully believe my wife will never cheat again, the reality is she will always be unfaithful to that old marriage.
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