Definitely not going to be with open arms... and let's not forget he's still ready to "walk" - although IF she is really out of the picture, I don't know what form that "walking" will take. We sleep in the same bed, watch t.v. at night and laugh together, etc.
I'm a painter (hobbyist) and have been thinking of painting a phoenix to hang in our bedroom. With the hopes that it will be our marriage in the ashes and the new one rising. I'm ready to discard the old, painful way of doing things and start over... but first I have to get him to even CONSIDER that there could EVER be a chance of happiness again.
One thing that really, really bugs him is that he did this twice. I know, I shouldn't feel sympathy for a man who cheats twice... but I do. Not for the cheating, but the loss of self he has undergone. He truly, truly believes that "if my heart was so full of you, another woman should never have been able to get in." - and I don't know what or how to help him with this one... maybe this is one of those areas I should just agree with him. "You're right, DH, it wasn't full of me and I own up to the part that I played in that."
