In all fairness to him, I'm sure he went into this marriage blindly, too, expecting everything to be perfect and that we'd all live happily, ever after.

Really, our biggest problem has been his daughter and their relationship. From all that I've read, there are lots of unhealthy father/daughter relationships in subsequent marriages with stepmothers. now I've seen it first hand.

This would be our biggest stumbling block to R. I think he would feel he would be betraying her (emotional incest going on here, too).

Our marriage counselor told him 10 years ago, if he didn't put the marriage first and we didn't present a united front, the kids would grow up and leave and we wouldn't have a marriage anymore. It's so predictable.

As you said, the very definition of marriage, by God!

M:63
H:53
S:41, SS:28, SS:25, SD:23
M:15
T:16

Bomb:12/17/11, "I think we should go our separate ways."
H moves to his mother's house, 4/1/12
12/21/12: H moves back home, piecing