Thanks. I have always related so well to your sitch and your posts (remember when others on the board thought I was Mr. LFL and you were Mrs. Choc.? LOL)
We have four children -- D20, D18, S14, and S10. D20 and D18 are about to move out of the house and share a condo together, and that's been a big part of the "timing" of this whole thing. That and my sister-in-law's death to cervical cancer at age 50 this past Christmas are the two things that my wife mentions as motivating factors for her. She is staring at a mini-empty-nest in two weeks, and it terrifies her, both because of the natural sadness in losing two of her best friends, but also I think because she knows that she's invested intimacy ONLY with her kids the past umpteen years, and now she's about to have a sneak preview of being home alone with just the lonely ol' guy she's been neglecting.
But I do fully acknowledge my role in all of this, and that, as much as anything, is what keeps me up at night. I have been stupid, I have been neglectful, but most of all I have figuratively spat upon the gift that God gave me in Susan.
"Here, Paul -- here is my gift for you. Cherish her and protect her."
I've none neither to the level that He would expect, nor have I been a strong leader in setting boundaries and helping her be accountable to her half of it.
