Bigger,
I'll tell you what I did. While I mildly vented some frustration here, I didn't do that with my wife at all. After she told me, she asked "did I do the right thing?" I replied with "yes, absolutely." Then we sat together on the couch and watched a movie in silence for a while. Afterwards I asked her about a few details. Stuff like, "Did he see you?" "How did it make you feel seeing him?" etc.
After she answered all of my questions I took her in my arms, told her that I love her, and said "Honey, you did everything perfectly." The look on her face was of great relief, love, and appreciation. It was a pretty beautiful moment. She clung tightly to me for the rest of the evening. Even when I was cooking dinner (I made one of her favorites), she kept coming into the kitchen for hugs and kisses and to tell me she loves me and she's sorry for the mess she created.
I did tell her that I was a little triggered, but I didn't let it ruin what I see as overall a very good thing, and she appreciated it so much. We ended up having a great evening. After we ate, I cleaned up all of the dishes and we went to bed early. A couple of hours later we went to sleep.
I think I just may very well take her out for dinner tonight. Our anniversary was 2 days ago and I didn't do anything for it. I could tell she was disappointed, but she did not make a deal out of it or try to rub my nose in it at all.
Maybe I'll make that up to her tonight.
Of all of the stories I've read here, I've not seen many, if any, where a WS pulls out of the fog and makes such a drastic change so shortly after an affair being discovered. While she wasn't exactly too great about it for that first month after d day, once she turned the corner she was all in and has never looked back.
She tells me daily now that she thinks I'm the most handsome man she's ever known (one of my pet names for her is "pretty face"), which... "okay," but you know what? She's said that for 28 years now. She has ALWAYS told me that. Maybe not daily, but she has always said that, and it's something I always just took for granted before. "Of course she's going to say that. I'm her husband..." but you know, after 28 years of consistently saying and demonstrating it, maybe, just maybe... she really does mean it. In all of the time I've known her she has never said otherwise. She told me that right from the beginning of our relationship.
I know this is a hard one for a BS to get over, and I did struggle with it for a little bit right after d day, but I'm convinced that she is very sexually attracted to me, and she always has been. Right from the start. That's been so helpful for my recovery, and she's only doubled down on it since this mess began.
There's nothing "lucky" about infidelity, but since it happened, and I decided to give R a shot, I think I'm lucky to have the wife I have. I do appreciate her. Probably more now than ever. What she's been doing could be viewed as love bombing, but I know coming from her it's sincere. It's not performative. She's been showing me how she really feels. We've been stuck together like glue since this mess began, and honestly, I love it. We do everything together now. Even grocery shopping. I feel like we've made 3 years worth of progress in one year.
Bigger and KD, I really appreciate the words of encouragement and you reinforcing what feels to me like a very positive development. Thanks.
[This message edited by Pogre at 4:07 PM, Monday, June 8th]