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this is the story of a man whose 22-year
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marriage was tested by infidelity not
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once but twice and how he navigated the
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pain the discoveries and a heartbreaking
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tragedy that changed everything so grab
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a cozy drink settle in and let's walk
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through this incredible journey
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together i'm 47 years old and my wife
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well she was 45 for 22 years we built
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what I thought was a solid happy
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marriage we raised three amazing kids a
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20-year-old son and two daughters 18 and
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16 life felt good like we were a team
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you know but sometimes the cracks in a
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relationship don't show until something
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shakes the foundation for us that shake
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came in September 2001 just 2 years into
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this our son was barely a year old and
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life was already a whirlwind but then I
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found out something that turned my world
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my wife had been planning to meet a man
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she met online at a hotel they'd been
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texting sharing photos and building this
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secret emotional connection for months i
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mean can you imagine we were newlyweds
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parents to a baby boy and here she was
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planning an affair it's the kind of
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thing that makes you question everything
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you thought you knew about someone now
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here's the twist she never went through
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with it why because of the tragedy that
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struck on September 11th
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2001 her uncle was on the 84th floor of
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the South Tower when it collapsed the
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whole country was grieving and she was
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hit hard overwhelmed with guilt she
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broke down and confessed everything to
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me she swore it never got physical even
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showed me proof and promised it was just
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an emotional slip but let me tell you
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hearing that from the woman you love
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it's like a punch to the gut i thought I
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knew her her strict upbringing no
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partying no dating before me she said I
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was her first love so how could this
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happen that betrayal lingered like a
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shadow i told her we could try to fix
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things but she had to see a psychologist
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to figure out why she strayed she agreed
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showed remorse and we worked on
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Once it's broken it's never quite the
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same it's like trying to glue a
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shattered vase back together sure it
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might hold but you'll always see the
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cracks fast forward 19 years we had two
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more kids our daughters and life seemed
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steady again but in October 2019 that
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old uneasy feeling crept back you ever
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get that gut instinct that something's
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off that's what I felt it started with
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small things one morning our 18-year-old
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daughter and my wife got into a heated
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argument before school i tried to
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lighten the mood by playing with our dog
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and our daughter burst out
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wife she looked upset distant like she
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there then I noticed she turned off the
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location sharing feature on her phone
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we'd always used it to keep tabs on each
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other not out of suspicion just
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convenience that change
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It set off alarm bells i couldn't shake
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the feeling that history was repeating
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itself so I started paying closer
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attention my wife was acting strange
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detached always on her phone and
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suddenly she was carrying it everywhere
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she even bought an iPad for work which
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wasn't a big deal since we discussed it
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but when I found it locked with a
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passcode something we never did with our
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devices it raised red flags
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she said it was for confidential student
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info since she worked at our daughter's
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school fair enough but my gut wasn't
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buying it wasn't then came the day we
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went to the post office for our youngest
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daughter's passport we were both there
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but the car was filled with this heavy
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silence she was texting someone and I
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couldn't help but wonder who later when
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we met at the bank to finalize a loan
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for our new house she mentioned running
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an errand curious I checked our bank
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account and saw a charge from an adult
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store now our intimate life had been
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well stagnant for a while mostly because
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uninterested so finding out she'd bought
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lingerie that hit me hard was it for us
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or someone else i started digging deeper
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i read up on low libido in women
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consulted a doctor and kept a close eye
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on her without being obvious
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one day when she left her iPad
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unattended I cracked the passcode what I
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found was a Facebook message from a
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stranger asking her to send a photo they
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weren't even friends on the app which
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confused me but her reaction to the
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message made it clear she knew this guy
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the conversation got flirty fast and he
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even suggested she leave our daughter to
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be with him i was floored how could this
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be happening again i confronted her that
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evening and let me tell you that was a
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mistake she lied said the lingerie was
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for us that she was just building up the
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courage to wear it she claimed the guy
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was an old colleague from a summer job
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who randomly messaged her she swore it
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was just texts nothing more i wanted to
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believe her but something felt off i
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told her it had to stop immediately
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she agreed but the next day I found out
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she'd told him to unfriend her on
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Facebook because of my demands she was
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still lying at this point my emotions
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were a mess i couldn't eat couldn't
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sleep couldn't focus i started going to
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the gym more scheduled therapy for
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myself and leaned on Psalm 81 for
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comfort it was like 2001 all over again
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only worse because I thought we'd moved
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to cope I threw myself into
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investigating i found out she was
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working with a 32-year-old physical
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education teacher during a summer school
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program she was 47 15 years older and
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their messages suggested she was
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pursuing him maybe even playing the
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cougar role to my surprise he seemed to
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brush her off which gave me a small
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sense of relief but the fact that she
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was chasing someone else that cut deep i
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started gathering evidence voice
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recorders GPS trackers you name it i
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wasn't proud of it but I needed answers
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i even looked into divorce laws and
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reached out to friends who'd been
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through it i was preparing for the worst
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but I wasn't ready to pull the trigger
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yet why because of our kids they're 20
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18 and 16 not little anymore but a
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divorce would still rock their world i
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even decided to take DNA tests for them
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not out of doubt but for peace of mind i
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loved them no matter what but I needed
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to know life kept moving though our son
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who was born before that first betrayal
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surprised us with tickets to see Come
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From Away a play about
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9/11 he worked at a local theater and we
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didn't want to let him down so we went
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pretending everything was fine but
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sitting in that theater watching a story
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tied to the day my wife almost betrayed
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me it was torture i started journaling
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to cope writing down dates times and my
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thoughts i even came up with a mantra
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stay calm stay patient stay in
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control it wasn't easy but I was trying
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then things took a darker turn i found
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more messages between her and this
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younger teacher she mentioned going
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camping but he didn't respond i kept
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quiet watching waiting i installed a
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voice recorder in her car and activated
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GPS one day I caught her meeting him in
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a church parking lot for 40 minutes she
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called a friend afterward spilling
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everything it was clear she was deep in
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this emotional affair maybe more
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when I confronted her again she
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downplayed it blamed me for her missed
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opportunities before marriage she didn't
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go to college didn't live the carefree
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single life and somehow that was my
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fault i told her if she wanted out I'd
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let her go but she stayed and that
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choice it was on her the final straw
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came when I followed her to a parking
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lot and saw her car parked next to his i
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contacted his wife who I'd been talking
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to and she urged me to confront them and
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take a photo as evidence i did and I
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asked my wife not to come home that
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night she called crying apologizing but
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I was done i went home alone ready to
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start a new chapter but then a bombshell
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hit i checked our mailbox and found the
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DNA test results I'd ordered i hadn't
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expected this but they showed my eldest
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son wasn't biologically mine i was
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stunned this meant she'd been unfaithful
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even earlier in our marriage before the
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2001 confession my heart shattered i had
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to tell my son the truth it was one of
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the hardest conversations of my life
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filled with tears and hugs he's still my
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son i raised him loved him and he's an
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incredible young man but the betrayal
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cut deeper than ever i called my wife
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and told her about the DNA results she
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broke down begged to come home but I
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away despite everything I reminded our
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kids daily that I loved them no matter
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what and you know what learning the
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truth was a strange relief i was done
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playing detective done living in fear of
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her next betrayal i could finally let go
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but life had one more curveball just
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when I thought we were finding our
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footing tragedy struck my wife died in a
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car accident due to brake
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failure at first it seemed like a
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horrible accident but surveillance
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footage revealed the truth the other
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man's wife had tampered with the brake
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lines she couldn't forgive their affair
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and took matters into her own hands she
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was sentenced to 8 years in prison but
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that didn't undo the loss our kids and I
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were devastated we were angry with her
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for her betrayals but losing her like
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this it broke us as we navigate this
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grief I'm holding on to hope my kids and
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I are healing slowly but surely we faced
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betrayal lies and now loss but we're
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finding peace amid the chaos life throws
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curveballs but we're learning to catch
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them and keep moving forward so what's
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the takeaway from this story trust your
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instincts but don't let pain define you
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betrayal hurts but it doesn't have to
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break you and sometimes the hardest
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moments lead to a new
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beginning if you've been through
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something like this drop a comment below
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