Men and women can give thousands of reasons justifying the reason for an affair. Regardless of the whys, the betrayal is painful and gut-wrenching. Everything about the relationship gets questioned and once the confidence placed in the union is lost, it’s almost impossible to get it back.
Carlie Maree is a writer and life coach. She is not afraid to share her feelings and opinions in a raw and honest way on her blog. Last year she went through a difficult and painful journey after she received an email from her husband’s mistress. Carlie did not reply back to the letter listing everything that occurred during the affair until now.
She does not edit herself in her response but does so without hate or blame. Instead, she looks ahead. She uses this situation as a learning experience where she will grow from.
So much happened in a year after receiving an email from her husband’s mistress. She is not sure why but after a year she decided to reply back to the mistress.
The woman’s email did not just change the wife’s life but everyone that is important. “Mine, my husband’s, my daughter’s, both our parents and families, our friends,” wrote Carlee.
The scorned mistress’s letter was so detailed and thorough, the goal of it left Carlee wondering why the woman chose to do this.
“I often wonder what was going through your mind at that moment, how much of it was revenge against a man who broke your heart and how much of it was you trying to do the right thing for his wife.”
This woman knew what she had to say and how to say to make it hurt.
Her words were the kind of words that make reconciliation practically impossible.
It seemed the other woman knew so much about Carlee.
“I wonder how much you knew about me. I know that you looked me up online, read my blog, saw my pictures. I wonder whether you knew that I’d be at work that day when I received your email, cryptically entitled ‘Your husband,’” wrote Carlee.
Carlee admits she had no idea her husband was carrying a love affair. She had asked him before and he dismissed her question so she didn’t think anything of it afterwards.
Things had changed between them but it was part of life. Who does not have a relationship that goes through dry spells?
He travelled a lot, he was busy with work.
She was also focused on her blog, so it was natural that things were not hot and steamy like it was when they first got together.
They also had a beautiful six-month-old daughter they both adored.
“Of course things were tough and we weren’t as connected as before but I needed him to hang in there for me, until things got easier,” she explained in her letter.
Carlee believes her husband would not have strayed had the woman not appeared in his life when she did.
The mom and blogger is not wasting her time trying to figure out who to put the blame on. She understands and accepts things happen for a reason.
In a way she sympathizes with the other woman. She lived in a small town and this man noticed her.
“One night a good looking guy comes into your bar for a drink. He can be funny and charming, my husband,” Carlee said. She understood it as she also fell for him from the other side of the bar too.
“I can imagine how you would have fallen for him. As he came in each night he would have told you about how hard it is with a baby at home, how he wasn’t getting much attention,” Carlee continued with her response.
All the woman had to do was listen to him, be the shoulder to cry on for the relationship to flourish.
In a way Carlee saw her husband looking for the person she was 10 years earlier.
Ironically both women shared similar things. Carlee was that beautiful blonde in the short skirt who loved to have fun and dote on him. She was not that person at the moment as she was caring for their baby.
“Ten years later I was the mum in the yoga pants with the silver regrowth and bags under her eyes from being up all night with a sick baby,” said Carlee.
Carlee felt she was still that person but she had taken a step back to absorb and get used to all the changes in their lives. He was supposed to love the yoga pants and Carlee as well.
Ironically, Carlee is pleased her husband had someone to be with. She even appreciates the woman being there for him when the family had to put their dog down.
“In some ways I’m actually glad. I felt bad for him spending all those nights alone in a hotel, away from his family. But he wasn’t alone. He was with you. He spent his birthday with you,” she tells the woman.
“I love this man enough to feel glad that he was able to find love at those times, though it wasn’t from where I wish it had been,” Carlee wrote.
“Just like the old cliché, you believed he would leave me for you. But he didn’t. He let you down. Our daughter got older, stopped nursing and started sleeping. He began to see the woman he had fallen in love with all those years ago. He wanted to make it work with his wife, with his family. I bet that hurt for you. You had a choice. You could let him move on and try to make his marriage work, or you could take it all from him. You chose option two.”
Carlee and her husband tried to make it work, get past the betrayal, and the pain but they couldn’t.
“I was different. It was the little details that did it. Those words and images etched into my mind. I think you knew that they would,” explained Carlee about the damage done.
Although, the marriage could not be saved Carlee does not see her new relationship with her ex-husband as a failure.
She concludes her letter to the woman by saying the following; “We are both ok now though, me and him. In fact, in a way we are closer than ever. We have learned so much about each other through this process. Though we have each moved on, we still have love and respect for each other, which has a positive effect on our little girl. No one will ever break that. I hope you have moved on with your life too. I hope that you have learned from this situation and that you can find some peace within yourself, as I have”
RSS