Newby here, desperate for some advice (thread 6)

[JRuss]

Well, Round 3 is in the book.

I think we're probably not going back. The MC essentially called BS on my W's view of what MC is, at least as practiced in her office. Said it's not something you do just so you can make your spouse not hurt as badly; they are going to be hurt (especially where there hasn't been any attempt at R), and you need to own that as the natural, entirely predictable outcome of what you've set in motion. Which she's allowed to have set into motion if that's what she has determined is the best thing. She basically put the ball in my W's court: come back and work on it with me and your H trying to salvage the R or do what you're going to do separation- and/or divorce-wise. She told my W, "you're an adult, you can do what you want to do".

My W doesn't want to R and never has, apparently, so that probably ends our brief MC experience. At least I didn't have to be the bad guy saying it's a waste of time and money.

For now, I'm just going to put my head down, smile, be a good Dad, keep doing what I've been doing GAL-wise and get through the holidays and reassess what I want to do in early 2017. I don't see another 18 months of this being something that interests me, but I want to tread warily, keep the kids and their needs in mind and just see what's up in the New Year. It makes a lot of sense to me now when I see that stat that says January is the biggest month for D filings.