Thunder, this is very true. They all do run. Mine has said that he was “running scared”. He sure didn’t act scared at the time. He was as arrogant as they come, and blaming me for everything. Things are not always what they seem!
It is hard to watch. They can cause such collateral damage to us, and their children, but mostly, in the end, they do so much damage to themselves. I wish that they could see a clearer, more effective way of dealing with THIS before they throw away what was so important to them, but they have to find that out for themselves. This is why it’s called a crisis! If they had good coping skills it wouldn’t reach crisis proportions.
I think the good news is that most will realize what they lost, and want it back. The bad news is that some may not be able to work out their issues to do the work that is needed, or if they do it’s too late and the LBS has moved on. I have a great deal of compassion for what my MLCer went through, and I suspected how devastated he would be when he figured out how much he threw away. My main goal for sometime has been to heal as much myself, to be able to give us a chance to heal together as much as possible, reconciliation or not. I have satisfied that goal, and given him the opportunities to get back some of what he lost.
I am happy that I made that choice. I knew that there were no guarantees going into this, so this shifted into a much greater goal than just reconciliation for me.
Medusa, unfortunately nothing makes them realize anything until they are good and ready. It is sad for everyone. And you are right, sometimes divorce is the best thing, especially to protect yourself financially; it needs to be top priority, always. Mine left me in total ruins financially. I didn’t plan on letting him, it just happened, way too quickly. If your H doesn’t ever return, yup, it will be his loss, and the consequences for what he has done. They are all “icky”. LOL