I feel completely lost. Staying in this marriage is so exhausting.
We’ve been married for 20 years. Our older child is in high school, and the younger one is still in elementary school.
Six years ago, I found out he cheated on me. I honestly can’t describe how I felt at that time. It was like my heart just died. I really wanted a divorce.
He begged me not to leave and kept apologizing. During the time we were talking about divorce, he suddenly became very caring toward me and my family. He responded to everything and acted thoughtful.
Don’t laugh at me, but before all this, I was basically living like a widow — no love, no care, and I handled everything by myself.
After I discovered his affair, he suddenly changed and started caring about the family. So somehow, I stayed and kept living with him. He promised he would change and even wrote a guarantee letter.
For years, I kept forcing myself to heal and forgive.
But deep down, he never really changed. He still likes going out and messing around. That’s just who he is — quiet on the outside but sneaky inside, always trying to hide things from me. At home, he’s unbelievably lazy.
Today, the kids had after-school classes and finished at 8 p.m. I had to work late, so I asked him to pick them up.
Instead, he went out drinking. He blocked all messages about picking up the kids and didn’t make any arrangements.
I got home at 9 p.m. and called him. He was still drunk.
I guess some “little sisters” were with him again, so he couldn’t talk and just hung up on me.
I felt so hurt.
I work and take care of the family, and I’m completely worn out.
He has never taken responsibility or helped out on his own, not even a little.
Are there really still men like this in today’s society?