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A Cheating Wife

In the SHM Community Forums, Dini responded to one forum member about his wife flirting with her co-worker. He wrote:

Hi Summer,

Glad to meet you though I am sorry to hear of the pain and difficult times you are going through. I give you a lot of credit for having the honesty and emotional courage to say it out loud here though; a lot of people, in my opinion, especially we guys, don't have that in them, and you've got it. thumbs down

Which kind of brings me to what I had wanted to say the most (though it has already been said by Joanne); that getting it out, talking about it is what, in my experience, will help you move on. Stopping and saying it's find and we will move on is pretty much the equivalent of sweeping something under the rug. It hasn't gone anywhere, it's just under the rug now. And you seek a state of trust with your spouse, naturally, who wouldn't want and need that – but in my humble opinion Summer that can only happen if you clean out from under the rug and BOTH talk about it, hopefully with a professional therapist or counselor.

I agree with Joanne that the cutting and threatening of suicide of your wife is serious, and that in my opinion it would do her well to talk about that with a professional (I'm not one) as soon as possible. But I really want to say this to you: sometimes that sort of thing can amount to a form of emotional blackmail; forgive me (without really talking about it or forcing me to really work it out with you, which is hard work) or I'll do something horrible (and the unspoken part is "and it would be your fault"). Not saying that is what is going on, but just saying perhaps it's a dynamic you might keep in mind. Whatever else it may be, it's a way of her avoiding actually working through the "trust" issue in your marriage.

So I'm just kind of echoing what Joanne and others have said I guess (I haven't come up with anything new in years now that I think of it Summer……LOL……not diminishing in any way your very real pain and troubles, just trying to maybe give you a moment's chuckle of relief).

Mostly just wanted to say hello and am wondering how it is going for you? Can you let us know? You speak with great honesty and emotional courage; that's a valued sort of voice around here.

Be well Summer.

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