We had just moved to a new city for my husband Eric’s promotion, but I struggled with missing home and the life we’d built. Our son, Jake, adjusted quickly, but his grades, especially in physics, started slipping. When I couldn’t attend a meeting with his teacher due to illness, Eric stepped in, and soon he was going back every week to discuss Jake’s progress with Olivia, the teacher.
Things took a turn when Eric came home late one night with Olivia. She declared they were in love, and Eric couldn’t deny it. In disbelief, I calmly told him that after 20 years of marriage, I wasn’t leaving without my share. I threatened his reputation and finances, and Olivia stormed out, leaving Eric to reflect.
I proposed a 30-day challenge: each night, we’d write something positive about each other, read them at the end, and decide if we were done. In those 30 days, we rediscovered our memories, our feelings, and slowly started healing. On the final night, Eric admitted his mistakes and said he didn’t want a divorce, but I set conditions: I would handle Jake’s school, and we would go to therapy. Slowly, we worked through the betrayal, and while trust wasn’t instant, we decided to try. It wasn’t easy, but maybe that was enough.