In love with 2 men and confused

Meghan

New member
Hi everyone. Just a little about me, I'm 46 and have been married to the same man for the past 20 years - plus lived with him for 3 yrs before getting married. I love him dearly and don't want to lose him, but I don't know if I can stay with him either. When we got married we agreed that if either of us did anything outside of our marriage we just had to tell the other one about it. This has allowed him to kiss his ex-girlfriend and a coworker he was attracted to, get a BJ from a stranger, and go to strip clubs(for work).
Also, over the course of the years, he began belittling me and chipping away at my self-confidence bit by bit. I finally caught on to what was happening and made demands that he stop - and he has been making a real effort to change because he doesn't want to get divorced.
Now to introduce Sweetie. I met him at a conference that we both went to in August 2011. He walked into a room I was in waiting for a meeting to start and I felt an electric charge, I turned around saw him and knew he was the cause (I felt the same thing the first time I saw Hubby too). We spent the rest of the conference kind of dancing around each other. I found out later that I was driving him crazy because he couldn't figure me out. Of course the reason he couldn't figure me out was because every time we started getting close I would pull back because I wasn't self-confident enough to get involved with anyone.
Fast forward to August 2012, it's a yearly conference, met up with him again - except this time the hotel assigned us to adjacent rooms. By this time I had gotten fed up with Hubbys behavior and was standing up for myself. Sweetie and I ended up going to meals together, going for drinks after the end of the day, hanging out with each other during breaks and during down time. We did alot of talking, plus hugging and holding hands. The last night there we cuddled and made out (with no removal of clothes-my rule) like a couple of horny teenagers till he told me we'd best stop as we were pushing the limits of his self control. Also, Sweetie knew I was married and about the agreement Hubby and I had before we did anything. Sweetie is single and not presently dating anyone, though I encourage him to do so should he find someone he wants to.
Anyways, I got home and told Hubby what happened ASAP the first night I was back, per agreement. He didn't seem too upset, and I didn't worry about it. Did wonder where Sweetie lived, seemed happy when I told him in the Midwest, we live in SoCal. Then he realized we were texting or talking every other day or so. Hubby did not like that. Attempted to inform me that I wasn't allowed to do that, he lost that fight. In fact now Sweetie and I text and/or talk everyday. Usually it is just talking about our day or telling the other something about ourselves that we know the other one doesn't know. Sometimes it's flirting, sometimes I'll send him a ETB text (evil teasing bitch). A couple of times it's been phone sex. And sometimes it is me asking him for a male point of view in trying to understand Hubby.
The big problem to present itself came about in November. Hubby had made plans for one of his daughters to come visit at our house for a long weekend. There a lot of issues with this particular daughter and they have a lot to do with the problems Hubby and I have. He did ask me beforehand and I had agreed, reluctantly. I thought I could handle it, but as the date kept getting closer I started getting antsy, and short tempered, and having flashbacks. So Hubby suggested I go visit my brother while his daughter was at our house. One note, I have figured out-and Hubby knows-that Sweetie lives about a 50 minute drive (according to goggle maps) from my brother. Thus it is a given that I am going to see Sweetie while I am out there. Then Hubby decides unilaterally that our agreement that we have had for our entire marriage is null and void, and that if I sleep with Sweetie he will file for divorce. The same agreement that he has taken advantage of multiple times. He does allow that we can be as physically involved as we were at the conference. Not that it does me any good, I have to tell Sweetie about Hubby's ultimatum and Sweetie is determined not to cause any problems so there was very little that went on physically between us. Of course on the flip side we had much more intimate conversations than we had had on the phone prior to my visit. It wasn't till after that visit that we began conversing daily, and our conversations since then have been a lot deeper.
So basically where I'm at is that I love them both very much. I'm trying to work things out with Hubby, but I don't want to lose the love I have with Sweetie. Hubby loves me, but doesn't think - at this point that he can share me with another man. Sweetie loves me and only wants me to be happy. He does not want to feel like he is the cause of Hubby and I splitting if that is what ends up happening. Any comments?
 
My only comment is that hopefully Sweetie can realize that he isn't the cause of yours and Hubby's issues- they existed LONG before you met Sweetie. Nor is he the cause of your Hubby suddenly (and unilaterally) deciding that what has been the agreement for a couple decades is no longer acceptable.

I know a relationship without the physical aspect can be difficult, but it can be managed if you both want to do that. The fact that you are long distance may help- you will have far fewer temptations.

If I were you I would ask Hubby whether he plans on getting back on a place where your previous agreement holds. If he says "no", then you will need to decide if you're willing to stay with him. If he says "yes" then some sort of time frame needs to be established, with "milestones" that can be accomplished to show that he really is working on his issues and not just stringing you along.

I wish you luck!
 
Your story sounds amazingly like mine.

Why do you still love hubby so much? That is where we differ. By the time mine gave me the ultimatum, it was just too much to bear and it broke my eros for him.

I am very happy now. I converse with others who dig me for me, and allow me to be who I am.
 
Hi! I want to comment on this, but have to start preparing lunch. I post this snippet in order to take this thread into my "Subscribed Threads" list, and will get back to you later.:)
 
Hi Meghan,
Welcome to our forum.

I pretty much agree with ThatGirlInGray: Timetables and milestones have to be set. If that doesn't happen, then you really have to decide if this is something you can live with for the rest of your life.

Basically your husband is not acting reasonable. But, emotions are not always reasonable. So, I guess he feels what he feels. Perhaps there's some way to probe deeper and find out why he's acting this way. There may be more going on here than meets the eye.

I hope things work out well for you.
Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
Hi again, Meghan!

It´s now past midnight and the rest of the household has gone to bed. Let me start by sharing with you a bit of advice that another member gave me when I was new here: When you come to the end of a paragraph, hit your "enter" key TWICE. That will create a space between your paragraphs and make it MUCH easier on the eyes, easier to read, and therefore easier to understand. [And remember that - unlike other cheapo-brand forums POLYAMORY:COM - with added AMAZOMATIC - allows you to edit your posts for up to 12 hours after you´ve sent them off, in case you notice a mistake or ambiguity on re-reading. HOWEVER... If another member makes a comment based on a misunderstanding of your post, it´s preferable to clear up any misunderstandings/ambiguities in a reply to their post, rather than editing your own, earlier one. The latter tactic would only lead to LATER readers of the thread becoming confused.]

OK, now to the point of your original post. As is my custom, I´m going to run past you a few crazy ideas/reactions that ran through my head when I read your post, and you can decide whether there´s anything in them worth considering. I´m not sure myself whether they´re on the ball or not...

a) I hate that
over the course of the years, he began belittling me and chipping away at my self-confidence bit by bit.
My father used to do that to my mother and had me and [I GUESS] my siblings seeing her as pitiful. As an adolescent and adult I began to stand up for her, had one or 2 showdowns with my father... and was delighted when she started to stand up for herself. His - and your husband´s - behaviour was ugly and despicable... a sign of an emotional cripple and a psychological weakling.

b) It is a boringly common tactic of many men (boring because it´s SO common) to sing the praises of "free love" and "open relationships"... as long as they´re ONLY free and open for HIM, not for HER. Everything´s just peachy-dandy until SHE wants a piece of the pie, too. Then it´s: "We have to re-evaluate our priorities" and "OUR relationship is more important: we need to protect it and not undermine it".
[Once I asked my mother for permission to take a - for me - important step. She told me that she couldn´t give her permission before consulting with my father: that they´d made an agreement when they married that all important decisions would be discussed and agreed upon by both of them. It later became blindingly obvious that that meant that she had to consult with him, but that he felt perfectly free - and justified - in making important decisions (that directly affected her) on his own.]

c) Having said that, and trying to be fair, I seem to understand that his extra-marital activities meant kissing 2 women, a blow job from another, and attending some/many strip-tease shows. I´m guessing that you´d want to take it further (physically) with Sweetie. Or are you going to be satisfied with a BJ and some cunnilingus? Does this have some bearing on your husband´s reluctance to allow you free rein? That he was "free" but only WANTED to wade in the surf, while you look like you´re interested in swimming the Channel?

d) Return that serve: Are you certain that it WAS only kisses, a BJ and some strip shows (for his JOB!!!)? Personally, I wouldn´t put too much faith in the integrity of a man who repeatedly tried to give his wife an inferiority complex.

e) There´s this thing called New Relationship Energy [NRE - do a tag search and read up on this]. Although you and Sweetie haven´t gone very far physically, his newness, his difference-to-Hubby might be making you blind to his faults and/or his true intentions. Not my opinion, just a point for consideration FWIW [for what it´s worth].

f) Personally speaking, and harking back to point c), I think that swimming the Channel is more admirable than wading in the surf. I might get some flak from other members on this, but I mean that - for me - kissing 2 women, getting a blow job from a total stranger, and getting paid for ogling strippers seems a sad and pathetic way of "flaunting the rules of monogamous propriety" [IF there was no deep emotional involvement in those kisses or BJ] compared to a [scary?] romantic/emotional dive into the deeper waves of a REAL relationship.

g) SOMETIMES "I love him so much" means "I need him: I´m not strong enough to stand on my own feet".

Until you give me some feedback on some of those points, I´m not going to give you any advice... except that you click on the poem title in the last of my 4 signatures, scroll to the bottom of that page, and read the poem. Share it with Hubby and Sweetie if you like. AND that you be honest with each other... and with yourselves!

A welcoming
hug.​
 
Thank you all for the feedback.

To GirlInGray - Sweetie does know he isn't the cause just a symptom of the issues between me & Hubby. As I said, I sometimes ask Sweetie for a male POV and I usually need to give him some sort of background information. Thus he knows examples of problems causing our issues dating from well before he & I met.

Yes we both want more of a physical relationship, but we do have strong spiritual and emotional and mental relationships. I've asked Sweetie if he wants to continue or if he wants out - he's told me that he wants to continue our relationship.

I know that Hubby and I need to sit down and set a timetable and milestones. I'm not sure if I want to stay with him if he isn't willing.

To Aphrodite - I still love Hubby because he does have good characteristics too. I know that he will be there for me if I really, really need him to be. He is also making the most effort ever to give me some of the little physical things I need. Unfortunately, it took Sweetie coming into the picture for him to do so. And we have 23 years of being together, with at least 1/3 of those years being very happy.

To kdt2617 - I think a lot of it is emotions. I never really planned to get involved with someone else. I also think that part of the problem could be because our agreement was fairly vague. He interpreted to mean onetime only encounters, and I interpreted it to include FWB/secondary relationships. Another part of the problem may be because Hubby is 60 and Sweetie will be 52 in a couple weeks. Also the fact that both Sweetie and I are Pagans, while Hubby identifies as Catholic may make hubby insecure also.

You're right, I do need to probe deeper, it's just difficult because he keeps getting defensive and that basically ends the conversation.

To MrFarFromRight - you gave me a lot to think about and respond to. This is just to let you know I didn't forget you, but I am going to have to come back later to respond as I have some things I need to go do.

Thanks again to everyone. It is nice to have a place I can come to and get help. :)
 
To Mr. FarFromRight: you gave me a lot to think about. To address your points I'll start at the beginning and work my way through them.

A).
Quote:
over the course of the years, he began belittling me and chipping away at my self-confidence bit by bit.

This hearkens back to my comment about his younger (17 yr old) daughter and a time when he was very rarely home, actually working in another state. There were a lot of problems, disrespect, and lies by her; resulting in me not wanting to have anything to do with her, to this day she still believes she never did anything wrong. By the time he changed jobs and we were living together again, she was out of the house. I don't want her in my house, Hubby gets on a kick to try and convince me that I should just forgive her and pretend like nothing happened. I stuck to my guns and that's when he started belittling and criticizing me. Plus he got his older daughter to join in as well. After about 5 yrs or so I was so depressed I was literally unable to get out of bed or do anything. Hubby pushed and prodded until started seeing a therapist, good move for me-but I now wonder if the reason he did so was because his laundry wasn't getting done and he had to fix his own meals.
He goes to some of the later sessions with me and therapist tells him he is out of line, so he stopped the pressure about younger daughter and gets older daughter to stop as well. Now, instead, the critical behavior is about all kinds of other things. Plus he also starts oversharing, I would tell him something private, and he would find some public time to share it. I would tell him it hurt, he'd say sorry, and then he would do it again. Needless to say, it didn't take me too long To quit confiding in him.

He didn't seem to care about my needs and gradually stopped doing little things just because he knew they would make me happy. Eventually, I quit caring and quit doing little things too. This all took us up to about the middle of 2011. I had started just doing something's for myself and ignoring what he had to say about it. I made some new friends, but still had low selfesteem. That's when I met Sweetie for the first time, as I said earlier-I didn't act on it. During the course of the next year I began pushing back at Hubby and his comments.

When it came time for the conference in Aug 2012, I was hoping Sweetie would be there. And when he was not only there, but also in the room adjacent to mine I just went with it. That pretty much gave me the boost I needed to feel like I could survive and be happy on my own if I needed to. Hubby's newest tactic during the past year had been to say "maybe we should get a divorce" when we argued. My reply had been to ignore him. So in Sept 2012 when he said it again my answer was to say "maybe we should". Now we have a worried Hubby who wants to fix our relationship and stay together.

So I told him the things I needed him to start doing again-that he did in the first 8 yrs of our being together. And I told him the things he was doing that were hurtful, and that they had to stop. He has been making a concerted effort to make changes, and has been doing a good job of it for the past 3 months. However, I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm not sure I'll be able to trust him again-and I've told him so. So that's basically where the issues are just between me and Hubby.
 
Here's some of my thoughts on the matter. Keep in mind that I have my own problems, so take my thoughts as simply my own and not in any way suggestions you should act on.

It's very common for people to change their mind and backtrack on any "agreements" they had. Emotions are indeed a fickle thing, and sometimes you just don't know how you are going to react until confronted with the reality of the situation. My guess is Hubby for the first time saw you as possibly slipping away from him into another's heart, and this really bothered him (as it does most men). Whether his reactions are reasonable or not is debatable, depending on your values, but it's nonetheless the reality of the situation. He is not of the mind to share you right now, and until he is ready to do so, your actions with Sweetie are going to be viewed as an affair. His demand that you stop with the texting shows that this is his mindset. You refused, so in his mind, you are showing that you are going to continue regardless of his wishes. He's thinking "She doesn't care that this is eating me up inside". Feelings are feelings, no matter how unreasonable they may seem to others.

You say you've been happy only about 1/3 of your 23 year history. That's a long time to be unhappy. Any MC along the way? One thing I'm always leery of is people re-writing marital history. This happens ALL THE TIME when people are in the grip of NRE. Someone shiny and new comes into your life and treats you like a queen, and all of a sudden you discover you've been "unhappy" the majority of your marriage. If you're serious about staying married, I would urge you find a qualified marital counsellor. His belittling and other behaviors are not acceptable, but many couples have used MC to help work on themselves and realize the impact of their words. Sometimes having that third party can cause you to really work on those communication issues.

You say Sweetie doesn't want to be the cause of any marital problems. Well, right now he is. The bottom line is you want a romantic relationship outside your marriage and your husband doesn't want you to. Until your husband changes his mind about that, any relationship you have with Sweetie is going to cause marital strife. If Sweetie were being totally honest with himself, he would realize this and back away from your situation until your hubby gives his blessing. If that blessing never comes, well, then the ball's in your court as to what you want to do.

Again, just my thoughts.
 
Last edited:
More to Mr FarFromRight: I'm going to combine my response to points B)., C)., & D). together;

First to address Hubby's extramarital activities. Yes, you are correct in what his are. The strip clubs were only during the time he was at one place of employment. For whatever reason a specific ethnic group expected it when they bought from the company. Hubby was the most senior person whose wife wouldn't throw a hissy fit. Though I'm sure he enjoyed himself. As for if there was anything besides what he told me, I don't have any reason to believe he has - nor any suspicion that he has.

Next, to address me and Sweetie. Yes, both of us want to have a more physical relationship. I don't know where you got the impression he and I have had oral sex; the most that has gone on between us is some heavy duty kissing, with no clothes off and no hands under clothes. And any form of sex, other than a few kisses, is off limits according to Hubby.

Point E). NRE: I actually lurked on this forum for about a month and a half before posting my introduction. During that time I also read thru a lot of the suggested articles. As much as I don't want to admit it, NRE is probably partly to blame for some of our problems right now. About Sweeties faults, I have seen some - they're not terrible -and I'm sure he has others. But everyone has faults, and I'm old enough not to be so naive as to think he won't have any. As for his intentions, I know he cares about me and loves me. I know, based on private conversations, that he refuses to be in a position of being the reason Hubby and I divorce, and the reason he feels so strongly about that.

Point G). : g) SOMETIMES "I love him so much" means "I need him: I´m not strong enough to stand on my own feet".

At one time not long ago, that would have been a true statement. Now though it isn't, I'm actually stuck between do I still love him enough to stay or do I need to leave because our relationship is too broken.

Feel free to make comments if you like. Thanks for all you gave me to think about.
 
To learninginTN: have tried to get Hubby to MC, but the closest he ever came was to go to some of my depression counseling sessions with me. Also, I have not rewritten our marital history. There are specific dates linked to specific issues going back years, all before ever meeting Sweetie. Ive written more on this in the post preceding yours. I also wouldn't say Sweetie treats me like a queen, on several occasions he has taken Hubby's side and told me that I was being too hard on Hubby. And right now Sweetie won't talk, text or email me, nor accept any from me, for the next few weeks because he wants me to try and work out things with Hubby with out the distraction of him.

That said, there are a lot of differences between me, Hubby, and Sweeties relationship; and yours, your wife, and her bfs relationship.

1.) I'm not having sex with Sweetie
2.) I don't rub my texting/talking with Sweetie in Hubby's face. Contact with Sweetie is generally when Hubby isn't even home.
3.) the last time I even saw Sweetie was Dec 3. We had dinner and talked.
4.) the physical relationship between Hubby and I is not one of our problems, we have sex, actually great sex, 4 to 6 times a week.
5.) Hubby and I talk, I actually try to talk to him more than he try's to talk to me.

One last comment, I got involved with Sweetie when our agreement was in force. Therefore the rules were different when we got involved, and I followedthe rules. Hubby was the only one of us to take advantage of agreement before I became involved with Sweetie. I see it as more of a what's good for the gander is good for the goose type situation. We are supposed to make important decisions together, his making a unilateral decision backed up by an ultimatum makes me feel betrayed.:mad:
 
I don't know where you got the impression he and I have had oral sex
I didn´t get that impression at all. Quite the opposite: that you hadn´t gone very far [yet]. I´ll repeat point c) with added words in "DarkOrchid" so that you understand what I meant:

Having said that, and trying to be fair, I seem to understand that his [your husband´s] extra-marital activities meant kissing 2 women, a blow job from another, and attending some/many strip-tease shows. I´m guessing that you´d want to take it further (physically) than your husband did [i.e. more than just kisses and BJs] with Sweetie in the future. Or are you going to be satisfied with a BJ [to maintain the same level as your husband got to] and some cunnilingus [give and take is only fair]? Does this have some bearing on your husband´s reluctance to allow you free rein? That he was "free" but only WANTED to wade in the surf, while you look like you´re interested in swimming the Channel? [Does your husband think that it´s unfair that you´re WILLING to take things with Sweetie much further that he - your husband - ever took them with other women?]

I hope that that clears up the confusion.;):)
 
OK, Meghan, thanks for answering my questions. Reading these answers to me as well as your replies to others, I get the impression that you don´t really WANT to stay with Hubby. I mean that it isn´t REALLY important to you. You´re giving him a chance to "straighten up and fly right" and if he doesn´t, you´re willing to dump him. I agree with learninginTN that
we have 23 years of being together, with at least 1/3 of those years being very happy
sounds like a pretty sorry record... unless you mean something like "1/3 of those years were VERY happy, 1/2 of those years were relatively happy, and 1/6 of those years were a bit boring [or ´up and down´]".

You´re expressing all these negative expectations about your husband:
now wonder if the reason he did so was because his laundry wasn't getting done and he had to fix his own meals.

Now, instead, the critical behavior is about all kinds of other things. Plus he also starts oversharing, I would tell him something private, and he would find some public time to share it. I would tell him it hurt, he'd say sorry, and then he would do it again. Needless to say, it didn't take me too long To quit confiding in him.

However, I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm not sure I'll be able to trust him again-and I've told him so. So that's basically where the issues are just between me and Hubby.

I'm actually stuck between do I still love him enough to stay or do I need to leave because our relationship is too broken.
Another dynamic that strikes me: You spent 5 years having trouble even getting out of bed; your husband continued to treat you like shit (encouraging his TWO late-teenaged [was the elder maybe early-twenties?] daughters to gang up on you - that´s bringing in the BIG guns; that´s putting on the hob-nailed boots to stomp on you) until a therapist told him that he was out of order; you didn´t really have the self-confidence to stand up to your husband until Sweetie came on the scene; and your husband didn´t really start to make an effort until he realised that he might actually lose you.

I think that Sweetie´s done just the right thing, backing off until you and your husband deal with your relationship issues. But I also think that you need to deal with some of your own issues. You don´t need a knight in shining white armour to rescue you: you need to learn that you´re worth fighting for and that it´s YOU who needs to do the fighting.

WHY are you only worth loving because Sweetie loves you? [Because - to be honest (and notwithstanding 4-6 sessions per week of GREAT sex) - your husband wasn´t loving you before: he was taking advantage of your loving him... or at least your trying to love him.] WHY don´t you love yourself?

Goddamit, Meghan, you´re a LOVELY person. You deserve to be loved. You deserve to be loved by the person who matters most: yourself.

As for your husband - and I really think that this is a secondary matter next to your feelings for yourself - I´m not one of those who insists on professional therapy. But unless he makes SOME kind of commitment to real improvement - and professional MC might be the most sensible at this point - I don´t see much hope for him.
 
I'm glad Sweetie is doing the honorable thing. It's pretty hard to be very rational when you're in the grips of NRE, because it's sort of seduces you into that mindset of loving the fantasy, hating the reality, and coming up with lots of reasons not to try to make things work.

Of course, ultimately, you're both going to have to work at the marriage if you want it to succeed. It's sad that sometimes the only thing that jolts someone into action of working on issues is the direct threat of divorce. But that's the reality. Sort of like how sometimes only a heart attack will convince someone to change their unhealthy ways. It's a painful and scarring way of getting you off your butt and working on things. But many couples do recover after being close to divorce, albeit with a lot of work.

That decision is up to both you AND your hubby. It may take a trip to a lawyer to talk about your rights to make hubby realize you're serious. It may "jolt" him into agreeing on marriage counselling. But only do MC if you're serious about wanting it to work. And that's the danger of the NRE I keep referring to. Why would anyone want to work on a marriage, with all it's responsibilities, when they have the fantasy to run off to and take them away from all that?
 
I'm still around here, update

Hi all Sorry I haven't been updating, but I just was going thru a lot of up and down turmoil mentally. Situation here is that I am still in love with Sweetie and Hubby, but I am taking a mental break from both of them. That means I've moved from the bedroom upstairs with Hubby into the extra bedroom downstairs. Neither of them are allowed to initiate conversations with me. I'm spending my time working on myself and what makes ME happy and what I need to do for myself to stay that way. I'll probably continue more of this later.
Meghan
 
Well it sounds like you're in the process of making some big decisions in life. If there's anything we can do to help let us know. It sounds like Sweetie and Hubby are being pretty supportive about it which is good.
 
Back
Top