XYZ is here, but I won't be staying...

[XYZ]

WoooooooooooooHooooooooooooooo!

Had dinner with kids and W. At start of dinner, W reaches under the table and grabs my hand. She places my ring in my hand. When I look at it, she says "will you put that back on please?". I replied "do you have yours on?" She shows me. I wait. I say to her, "I want to do that, but I need to know a few things first. First, if I put this back on, I need to know that I'm never taking it off again. And second, I will work as hard and for as long as necessary for us to repair this, but the only thing I won't do is do it alone. You have to be just as committed and I need to believe that."

We sent the kids to play video games within eye distance, but out of hearing distance and talk for about the next hour. I'll jump to the punch line....I'm wearing my ring tonight for the first time in over 2 months. It feels as good as the first time I put it on 9 years ago.

Other topics:

(1) I told her that I insist on marriage counseling and I will not move home until we are well on our way to reconciliation. She was fine with that.

(2) I told her that I would not resume a sexual relationship with her until I felt like there was emotion behind it and not just physical thing. She agreed. (how's that for role reversal- talk about a 180!)

(3) She declared, multiple times that "she's committed." We agreed that we have lots of work to do but we both want to do the work. We also agreed that slow and steady is way better than fast and shoddy.

Long road ahead, but I have a full-blown PARTNER. I'M PIECING! For real this time!

I'm at my place and I can't stop smiling......