I think there was a certain amount of pain I had to go through to realize I was doing some things that weren't working for me. Had XW not left it may have taken me more time to figure this out. With her gone there was no one else to blame and I had to take accountability. That said, I was hurting quite a bit in the marriage anyway and I'm not sure I could have continued like that indefinitely. There comes a point when you hit bottom, BD or no BD.
In the end I can never say for sure what would have been. I only know we would have been married while we figured it out.
Me:38 XW:38 T:11 years M:8 years Kids: S14, D11, D7 BD/Move out day: 6/17/14, D final Dec 15