...I think ultimately I have given up on having a normal M, and decided to see where the ride takes me.....
I am not sure anyone has a 1950's sitcom marriage, if that is what you meant.
I also hope that you ultimately get a marriage that will provide both you and your wife with the support you each need and with a safe environment where children can grow up safe and in a nurturing, caring environment.
I think that most marriages, especially the ones that seem to be discussed on this website are anything but "normal." And yet I would wager that there are some very good marriages, especially from the group that have faced divorce and rebuilt their relationship.
My limited experience with strip clubs is that the ones I have been at are sort of more R-rated than dens of wild prostitution. That doesn't mean that there can't be really bad things happening in some of the clubs, but it also means that there is a lot more illusion that substance. I would think that a strip club is probably safer and tamer than a swinger club, massage parlor or a lot of other places.
Don't give up on you dream/hope for a "normal" marriage or at least one with mutual respect, support an love between you and your wife.
Again, if you and you wife could spend some time with a good sex therapist, the therapist could probably help the two of you figure out what happened and how the two of you (or your wife) could experience the same emotional rush in the privacy of your own home either through role playing, watching certain kinds of videos, or some other way that would be more socially accepted.
You are on the verge of getting too far out there to post things on the internet. While there is a degree an anonimousness on the internet, some things are just too risky to post. So be very careful what you post from here on out.
Again. Good luck. I wish you the best.
>43 years of marriage--My wife and I are now closer than we have been in decades. I believe that my SSM is over.