I've been on and off these boards since my H left in January. I have read your thread here, and I'm impressed and find real comfort in the amount of self-esteem and confidence your writing expresses.
I have a question for you: Do you think that your ability to get beyond the marriage was helped b/c your XH wasn't kind and there was an OW involved? If he had been kind, patient, no OW - just in personal pain and needing to leave the pressure of relationships period -- do you think it would have been harder or taken longer? Just a question (this is for a "friend" )