I'm meeting with a lawyer on Monday, so hopefully I will have a better idea of my potential exposure. She has every incentive to be cooperative though. She really wants my help in raising the girls, and I don't think that she feels confident in her ability to raise them if she was granted primary custody.
She hasn't mentioned any alimony, and if that becomes an issue, I'll fight her tooth and nail. I don't think she'll want this to get ugly, as she's really afraid that I'll somehow get Johnny Cochran as a lawyer and take her girls away...
I'm actually looking forward to being single. It's been so long since I've been in any "normal" type of relationship that it'll be a breath of fresh air. I've devoted the last 13 years to giving so much to her and getting so little in return, that even the most casual relationship will be great. But I have to be patient, can't date til she's out of the house, and the paperwork is being processed.
Originally I had asked her (pre-DB era) to wait a year from separation to when she would file for D. But now I figure there's no reason to wait. That'll shock her, but hey, I got the shock of a life earlier. I really don't think that she ever loved me the way I loved her in the beginning, I think she just loved the attention and affection. It doesn't really matter anymore.
The eternal optimist and hopeless romantic in me hopes I'm wrong, that somewhere in her she really does love me, that the last 13 years haven't been one big lie. But if it was, I'll be okay. I have my wonderful daughters, I'm healthy, my faith is coming back to me, and life goes on.
