[*]There is an emptiness inside me where feelings for you should be, and I don't know if that will ever change. I think this is lack of fundamental respect because I haven't really called her on her crap behavior.
Possibly. But I also take it emphatically as "And you WILL never fill that emptiness inside of you where feelings for me are supposed to be, as long as you are in contact with another man who's not your husband."
This is a classic chicken-and-the-egg about infidelity, Future. It's basically "I can't give up OM because I don't have feelings for you, my husband", and the reason she can't get those feelings back with you, her husband, is because she hasn't given up OM! Any good MC worth their salt will try to get a wayward spouse to end all contact with OM/OW, as the thing to do FOR THEMSELVES, while they try to decide about their marriage. Because so long as their brain is chemically affected by their contacts with the OM/OW, they cannot possibly make good, dispassionate decisions for themselves.
We talk about "cake-eating" a lot around here, but I prefer the analogy of "plate-spinning" more. Remember that guy that used to come out on the old Ed Sullivan Show, or on Bozo's Circus? And he'd keep all those plates spinning on those sticks?
This is what waywards do, especially wayward women. She wants to keep her FutureUnknown plate spinning, just enough, while she works at spinning her OM plate. And she goes back and forth between the two.
Refresh my memory, how long have you been at this again??
