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Thought we had a good marriage

9085 Views 160 Replies 38 Participants Last post by  ShatteredKat
Wife in past (decades) has often taken off somewhere saying: "I will be gone for a few hours." and shows up 8 hours later.
Often travelled for business and: "I call after work winds down." - and don't hear from her till next day - often late afternoon.

Today she meets a man - sort of a friend - widower of her best friend of 20 years - and meets him to take him to medical facility as he was getting drugged and needed a driver.

Well she left around 10 AM - Thursday. It is now 12:20 or so Friday and she has not called or texted what she is doing.

I am not Ok with this and life is going to get messy when/if she shows up home again.

Suggestions on how to interpret her behavior and what I should do appreciated. Don't spare the 2.x 4s.

- sigh
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Openminded:

My guess is when she responds she’s going to say he had medical complications or something reasonable sounding so she needed to be there. Her history is not to always respond so she’ll say she didn’t think it would be a concern. Why have you stayed if this is a habit you don’t like — not a dealbreaker until now?
Dealbreaker - hard to say - but my "growing up" life was not pretty - I'm used (sick I know) to abuse - I was raised being passed around to grandmas and aunt/uncles places.

Never really lived in a "family" type environment
I am asking these questions because I think it’s important to talk through are we dealing with inconsiderate or cheating.

since a pattern but not with the same people it could be inconsiderate.

Then there’s the ole give them silence approach. I mean TAM tells so many men if they don’t get enough sex just stop initiating and see how long it takes to notice. If she was trying the he doesn’t seem to notice me or care if I’m around so I’ll go and see how long it takes for him to care….. it took until 12 am.

imnot a constant tester or anything but if I had done this help someone thing… around 5 pmmy husband would’ve texted me when he got off work or got home and asked me how it went, why I was still out, ask if I needed help or if I wanted him to bring dinner over.
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I think it is late, you have been up worrying / coming up with scenarios of her where abouts, she has a history of not checking in (that was innocent?) so maybe getting some rest and looking at the situation with fresh eyes in the morning would be good.
I have to have some semblence of mental awareness for AM work (I love engineering meetings!) so calling it a night and hope she isn't up to -

Will post tomorrow - I hope
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Well I doubt you’ll be falling asleep any time soon. So you can… any combination of the following….


1. Decide if it is a dealbreaker actions follow after you think on that
2. Call her. Not sure why it took until 12 pm to text. I’d be calling and asking what’s going on. Communication is very important. Don’t give a **** if it wakes her or anybody else up.
3. Passive aggressively go to a hotel and don’t tell her where you are, don’t answer texts or calls for a few days.
4. Go see a lawyer in the morning either to straight up divorce or to set a boundary that this is the line in the sand. (But I’m not sure it is for you.)
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A lot of women don't listen to drilling. You have to back up the drilling with action before they stop mistaking the words coming out of your mouth with background noise.

So I don't know what exactly you're texting her but I would suggest "If you don't call me back within the next hour stay wherever you are, because you're not welcome back here" be your next text. And mean it. And when she does get back to you tell her to get her ass home now, no if ands or buts accepted.
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Are you saying your wife dissappears for days at a time ? And there is no contact if you call or text ?

How well do you know this person she is helping ? If she doesn't answer your calls / texts then contact him directly. You have his number and address , correct ?
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Well as Anastasia6 posted - going to sleep - nada

Mind got confused (I work from home 24 x 7) and days sometime meld together -
so on MONDAY March13 - she does "driver duty" to take "Kevin" to hospital for hernia surgery.
Leaves home 10 AM - 5:30 PM - "We're at Kevin's house"

No mention of considering to stay for observational reasons for the night (24 hours) and time marches on.

Earlier she said she would be home "in the afternoon."

Well - I couldn't sleep so called about 0200 - and did so multiple times till she answered.
I got a line of BS about "I told you the - (story)" via texts. I sent her the texts she sent to me which have
no mention of staying overnight.

So I get her on the phone about 0200 and she gives me the "what I wanted you to hear" story - not what she texted and/or said. I got pissed off (surprise?) and told to "enjoy sleeping on the couch" - ya? Right!?

I did not mean to say she "disappears for days at a time" - but when she travelled for work - she was incommunicado 99% of the time.

So I'm here with 4 cats (they like you even when your angry) and just annoyed that my life is in the sxxxxer.

No idea when she will be home "today" (Tuesday) and I'm trying to think of how not to blow up but I just can't think of why I should put up with her "doing as she pleases" without keeping me informed. After all, isn't taking care of your spouse part of marriage? AS in knowing they are safe wherever they are and what they are doing and/or subjected to?

I keep thinking of Grandmas teaching the "Golden Rule" - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I have never travelled and NOT called her every evening and also posted some texts during the course of the day.
Just to let her know where/what I was doing at the time.

How do people not see that as the right thing to do with your spouse?

On the "affair angle" - think how many times you have read hear the WS is saying the OP is a dork/jerk/misfit/etc?
And turns out they are trading body fluids?
So it is with her comment on the person she is with tonight. I'm thinking "EA" at the least is blooming. Well, maybe more that is my concern.

I'm also battle injured as she has a physical affair middle 1990s. "We only kissed, a lot!" Ya, Right.

I got "the story" in the traditional trickle truth - or at least the parts she was willing to tell.

Apologies for wall of text - life can be messy.

Tuesday (after the lovely engineering meetings) should be fun!

BTW, even though she is over 70, she still has a female presence that turns heads much younger.
If she "hit the market" looks alone would get her lots of bites. Me, not so much. But I still have a full head of hair!
:)















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I don't think they are doing anything physical at least after surgery..Hernia surgery hurts. Ìve had 3 of them. The non communication about spending the night at his house is a real issue. I wouldn't put up with that spit at all. You need to have a discussion as soon as she gets home
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HA!!!! I had an "Umbilical Hernia" and it wasn't much of a bother pain wise. Sorry to here you had 3!!!
How did you get to lucky?

"As soon as she gets home." - probably not as my AM is clogged with meetings on Tuesday - that is assuming she GETS home AM. PM time? no plans other than going to Home Depot to pick up new water heater.
I am mentally sore about this and thinking I need to wait a bit before conversation - I'm biased towards going forward w/o her in my life but - ya, always a but - we do have some good times together.

Ever hear of "high maintenance woman/" - she is in that category.
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Ya know what the problem is? You let all this stuff carry on for so long in life that now you’re in the last stage of life being old and resentful. You can complain about her being disrespectful all you want but that bottom line is you are the one that keeps allowing it to happen.

On another note you are crazy to believe that giving her a piece of your mind is going to do anything at all. It can be seen countless times here on TAM that a bunch of talking never works. Action gets results and not talking. She already doesn’t give a care about what you think so why on gods green earth do you think fussing her is going to change anything? It’s a complete fools game.


She has shown you time and time again her level of respect for you. Is it her fault you keep swallowing it ????
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Mr. Married:

I have seen what you post yet blind to my own situation - thanks!
@ShatteredKat I think you know more than anyone else that what she is doing is completely, off-the-charts, inappropriate. No one needs to tell you this. She seems to be acting like a single woman.

Lay down some boundaries and see how she reacts. If she tests them, give her the papers. NO ONE needs this drama in their lives.
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Mr. Married:

I have seen what you post yet blind to my own situation - thanks!

You chose to live with it this long. It’s too late to press the reset button on life. If I were you I’d just carry on and live my own life however I wanted without much thought to her. That’s exactly what she is doing. I probably wouldn’t even bother with the divorce hassle.


If you dig your own hole don’t complain when you find yourself at the bottom of it.
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"but have you tried reaching out to her?"

text only - not going to call on phone as I don't think where/what she is at/doing would lead to honest conversation
Why wouldn't she be honest ? What do you think is going on with your wife ? Seems like you think she's up to no good ?
No idea when she will be home "today" (Tuesday) and I'm trying to think of how not to blow up but I just can't think of why I should put up with her "doing as she pleases" without keeping me informed.
Massive disrespect for any SO to behave this way, cheating or not.

I think "blow up" sounds about right to me. At least let the anger drive you to do the right things and not be timid about what you need in a wife.

I agree with MM, it looks like the situation has gone on for a while so now you have an uphill climb to change it assuming that she's not cheating.

But to be honest I don't know of any nursing/transport situations where staying with someone overnight is required unless that's known and communicated upfront. Her patterns of doing this stink to high heaven and sounds pretty convincingly like PA.

Best of luck to you.
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Woke up and she is still (life360) still at same place
No Idea what is her mindset -
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Woke up and she is still (life360) still at same place
No Idea what is her mindset -
Are you sure there ever was a real transport for surgery? Did you see the trip from Kevin's to the hospital? The whole story sounds made up to me.
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She actually told you you are going to be sleeping on the couch?

No. No no no.

If there is a period of coldness, make sure it's mutual and that you do not leave the bedroom. She can go elsewhere.

Maybe she has been a serial cheater, more times than just the time you know about.

She sounds like a selfish, mean, thoughtless person
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Pull the pin on this one.

Finish out your life in peace.
Play golf, buy a boat, go fishing.
Join clubs.

Avoid alcohol.

Take care of stray cats, never ladies who wander off and stray.

Who needs the worry, the drama, the disrespect?

This is why lawyers exist.
Make a lawyers day.
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