Well crap, I just spent 20 minutes addressing the comments above, then hit the wrong button and lost it all. I'm not going to do-over.... but just want to say thanks for the thoughtful comments.
Please don't let my story depress you. If you have hope for a R, keep hoping. Just don't let it stop you from living the full and happy life that can be yours, with or without that lost partner.
Also, I didn't mean to insinuate that the "happy couple" doesn't have issues. Every couple does. They don't always have the fluttery feeling either, but (according to her) it is a different kind of love than what she claims to have had in her previous M.
Tread, she has not really been much help to me in dealing with my emotions in my own sitch, mainly because she left to pursue another man, and although my H has been with OW since we separated (and may still be), I don't believe he left BECAUSE of another person. I'm still friends with her ex, too- and honestly he has been more help to me, because he's been where I am. I think there's a kinship in rejection, which is one of the reasons it feels so right to come here to share and vent. The people here GET IT because they've FELT IT.
Mark, sorry to hijack.... and I hope you're not flat on your back still seeing stars. You are one of the strong ones here, and it's been encouraging to watch you grow into that strength. We're all just walking each other home, one step at a time.
M-60 H-51 M-14 years BD 12/26/16 S 1/1/17
"First the pain, then the rising." Glennon Doyle Melton