Some background information before I get started.
My wife and I have been together for 22 years, married for 7 of those. No children and we are both 43 years old.
This last Friday was DDay.
I got a text saying that she was going to the medical clinic because something wasn’t right. She called me immediately after I asked her what was going on and started hysterically balling about how I was going to leave her because she is pretty sure she has an STD and I was going to think she got it cheating on me.
Well, of course. Who wouldn’t?
I went numb immediately.
I told her to just go get tested and then set myself up an appointment for a full panel of everything the doctor and I could think of. Before I went to my appointment, I told her she needed to come clean with me. At that point she told me about her drunken ONS that happened 3 years ago at a gathering she went to and that was how she got it.
I was destroyed. I honestly didn’t know something could rock your world like that.
I went to my appointment and suffered through the humiliation of the testing and sure enough, just a couple of weeks after our anniversary and a couple weeks before my birthday she gave me the gift of an STD courtesy of another man.
That night and the next day I went around in circles, asking everything I could think of, trying to make sense of it all, trying to figure out if there was any way to move forward either together or alone.
How could I ever be with anyone else now? Who wants a diseased, middle age, fat man? I am social awkward and have a difficult time talking to people before I know them. What chance did I have? Does that mean she is my only chance at ever being with anyone?
I know, not productive thoughts and all things that can be worked on/improved but it is hard to keep those thoughts from creeping back up.
Either way, I believed her story. She would get so upset that she would run to the bathroom and vomit/dry heave anytime I mentioned how it hurt me. She answered every question I wanted. Swore she would do ANYTHING it takes.
I found this site later that night and started looking at what everyone had gone through. How they handled it, how they recovered. What I kept seeing? Set boundaries, demand the truth and verify.
Monday, I did. I told her that I wanted the whole truth. The damage had been done and it was time for it all to come out. That is when she told me about the waiter. Seems this guy had been hitting on her for a while and for the past 3 years she had been going to his place on occasion, just a few times a year and never for longer than an hour. However, that stopped a while back. She SWORE nothing happened. He tried to kiss her once and she pushed him away. They just hung out because it made her feel good to be around someone that wanted her. Said she couldn’t explain it and knew how dumb it sounded and how dangerous but it was the whole truth.
Can you believe I bought that crap?
I woke up later last night and sat bolt upright. That all made ZERO sense. I went into the other room where she was currently sleeping and asked for her phone. Told her my suspicions and that I had to verify what she told me. She handed it over and I went and purchased Fonelab to dig through any deleted messages, images etc.
About 10 minutes later she shows up in the computer room as I was really starting to dig. I asked her about the first name I saw that I didn’t recognize and that is when the story changed.
There was no drunken ONS there was just this guy (the waiter) who she had been hooking up with for the last three years. It wasn’t even emotional; it was just for sex. He would just text her or her him every few months when they were nice and horny and she would go over to his place. Leave me there sleeping and slip out.
She told me it had already ended six or seven months ago and that she didn’t want to be with him, never wanted to, it was all physical and even that she didn’t really enjoy. It was just the attention of a younger guy that drove her back.
Little more digging and find she contacted him last week. She explained that off as informing him of the STD and while it did match up time wise it was yet another lie. More digging, she had been with him as recently as 3 weeks ago. 3 f-ing weeks and she is trying to tell me how much she loves me now and wants to make it work. How much the last few years have made her closer to me than ever. How the F is that even possible? How can someone have sex with someone else for years with increased frequency over that time and feel closer to the person they are cheating on?
She says it was only something that happened now and then (couple times a year) until last year when it became an every month or two thing. I have the phone recovery information but honestly, I don’t know if I can take reading it. I want to know if she is still lying, trying to minimize (though not sure why she would at this point, what really is the difference between sleeping with someone 15 times or 30) but to read them talking to each other like that is going to break me. I don’t know if I want too many details.
Either way she is out of the house as of this morning and going to stay with her parents for a week while I do some thinking.
The really sad/pathetic part? I believe her. I believe her when she says she wouldn’t do it again. It is almost like the realization that I am 9/10ths of the way out the door was a wakeup call. Somehow, she finally understands we may be done. She immediately sent him a message in front me saying it was over, immediately agreed to hand over all electronics, passwords etc. Agreed to tracking devices, etc.
Says she will do anything, absolutely anything.
Maybe she is telling the truth, maybe not. I guess only time will tell but I just don’t know if I can stick around long enough to find out.
Anyway, thank you for letting me share. It brings some relief, no matter how small, just getting it out.