This husband’s wife reconnected with an old boyfriend (someone she was engaged to) after 20 + years of marriage.

You can find his first letter here.

Please leave your comments, questions, insights and concerns below. Remember, we are hear to learn not to be dogmatic. BTW, for those of you who have read Break Free From the Affair, which of the 7 types of affairs do you suppose this is?

Second email:
Hi (OP’s name) ….hope you are well.

It has been almost 4 months since I last communicated with you. However, as a husband, father, and man….I am touching base with you one more time in order to clarify my thoughts, requests and intentions.

I am asking that you keep this between you and me.

As you know (wife’s name) and I have challenges which we are still working through. However, they were complicated by her reconnection with you. The original communications between you and (wife’s name)…even you would have to admit that 37 hours of phone calls, 2200 text messages (30 – 40 a day?), and numerous other emails, etc. in a 9 week time period was more than excessive. If you don’t believe my stats, let me know, I can send you the phone records. I don’t know how (op’s wife’s name) your wife would feel about that, but from any vantage point it was not even close to appropriate. If you think that your connection with (wife’s name) was “just friends”, feel free to Google the term Emotional Affair or Emotional Infidelity for an eye opening experience.

The bottom line…..I am asking you to please do yourself justice and focus on YOUR relationship with YOUR wife and children without involving my wife and family any further. Your personal problems with your job and wife should be dealt with by you and you alone. “Forever and Always” needs to stay in the past….not further tag lines on emails to my wife. Sure….I get it….fond memories of an old flame are normal….but they need to stay in the past as memories. You “let her go” once before and I’m sure that you can do it again.

(OP’s name)… my hope is that you respectfully decline or at the very least severely limit any future communications or pre-planned and “accidental” meetings with my wife. You can do it in a kind, compassionate, yet respectful manner. Keeping things professional and above board. But…further contact with (wife’s name), the sharing of intimate relationship details/problems, and other interactions is not healthy for ANY of us. Focus on your family and their future….they need you now more than ever and I will focus on mine. I respectfully advise you to do this in the hope that (wife’s name) and I can regain trust in one another and recover what any dignity is left in our marriage. I do not know your current relationship with (op’s wife’s name)….but I cannot believe she would not be hurt, upset, and betrayed by your actions, conversations, and involvement with my wife.

This should not be some sort of Romeo and Juliet situation with the allure of forbidden contact. We are not teenagers or college students…..this is real life and the decisions we make….actions we take ….all affect our families and children. It is not a harmless game.

Please take the high road on this.

I ask again that you respect my position on keeping this between us and I will respect the same position with you.

I wish you well with your life. Should you want to respond I will be receptive.

Thank you.

(husband’s name)

P.S. I asked my reader, the wounded husband, to fill me in on what happens. Might be interesting!

Infidelity is an opportunity for you to evolve and become the kind of person you
really, truly want to be.

It’s also an opportunity for the relationship to move to another level of depth and
richness and intimacy and joy. And it really is, I believe. You may not believe it
right now, but believe me, it is.

I’ve seen hundreds; perhaps thousands of people move to that level and use
infidelity as an opportunity in a springboard for something better in their life.

So let’s take a minute then to reflect upon how you can break free from certain
patterns in your life.

Imagine yourself three months from now. Who do you want to be three months from now?

Imagine what that would feel like, for you to be who you truly want to be three
months from now. What would you be saying? What would you be doing?

Take some time with those questoins. Three months.

Now go a year.

Imagine yourself a year from now, being the person that you truly are, being the
person that you truly want to become. What would that feel like? What would that
look like? What would that be like?

Now let’s ramp it up a notch, and go five years from now.

What do you see for yourself five years from now, being the kind of person that you
truly want to be? Again, what would that feel like? What would that look like? Take
some time with those questions.

Now go to your relationships.

What kind of a relationship would you like to have three months from now? What would
it feel like? What would it be like? What would the interaction be like? Imagine
that; live in that. What would you be doing in that?

Who would you be in that relationship three months from now? What would that feel like?

And again, go ahead a year from now.

What would your relationship like to look like a year from now? What would be the
dynamics of that relationship? What would you be doing with each other; what would
you be doing in that relationship? What would he or she be doing with you?

Then again, take that ahead five years from now.

What would it be like, being who you really want to be, the relationship being what
it truly is meant to be? These are important questions to ask.

Again, what are the patterns that you would like to break free from so that you and
your relationship can become truly who you want to be and truly what it’s meant to
be?

Stuff happens. Did you ever see the bumper sticker that says “Stuff happens?” It
doesn’t really say stuff happens, but you get the idea.

Infidelity happens. It happens and it feels like the end of the world, doesn’t it?
It can be devastating. The feelings are indescribably intense. The images and the
negative thoughts consume a person for hours, for days, for weeks and sometimes for
months.

The process takes two to four years for normal people to heal, to reconcile, to
forgive and move on.

For those who research, read and study and approach the infidelity intentionally, a
shorter period of time is the result.

There’s a huge investment that’s asked of us when we encounter this demon called
infidelity or an affair.

So let’s think about this a minute. Let’s think about the fact that infidelity is
given to you or happens to you.

Let’s put this in a theoretical framework.

This framework for me, at least, says that life is not problem-free.

Life is filled periodically with times of transitions, times of change, times of
trauma, times of death, times of crisis of various kinds.

We can’t escape it. We try. We work hard not to go there, but I believe that life
offers us and our relationships times of intense challenge, change, transition,
trauma and crisis. A child dies. A person gets sick, cancer, heart attack or is
disabled. Debilitating events pop up and emerge.

You can’t escape. You can’t get away from those kinds of events, and they always
continue until the point of our death.

So where does that leave you and leave you with the infidelity in your life? This is
a challenge to you.

I want you to see infidelity as a gift. That’s right.

Infidelity can be an impetus for you to evolve and develop into the kind of person
you are meant to be and that you truly want to become.

And as well, infidelity can help a relationship evolve and become fully what it’s
meant to be – a deeper, richer relationship.

Infidelity is a gift.

What are you learning about you?

What are you learning about relationships?

Give some thought to those questions.