I think that eventually we could all get to a point where the pain of losing our wives goes away (or at least becomes manageable) but the love for our kids never waivers. It only intensifies. Just yesterday my son asked me why I "always sleep downstairs now?"
You are correct, sir, in that the pain of losing the ex lessens - it never goes away. EVER. It's the children that make it terrible. My ex is convinced they will be fine...yet she doesn't see, or if she does she doesn't acknowledge it. I picked them up this weekend and she had brought them a sh*tton of stuff...typical lately.
Its so hard when the kids ask why. And its even harder when she tries to alienate them. Ugh. They are my everything.
THat knife pain you mentioned was so bad at BD? Magnified now. Much magnified.
Just being there for them and their rock. That's all there is now.
There are moments in this life when you are so confident in the rightness of your actions, that not even for a second do you consider the option that you might be wrong.
