Dear Cary,
I am a 42-year-old man married for six years; previous to marriage, my wife and I were together for 15 years. Do the math, and you'll see that I've been with her all my adult life. She is 10 years older than I am, with a grown daughter; we have no children. The one certain fact is that we love each other very much, in the deep way that comes both from the many years together and the work we've done together to keep the relationship alive.
So here's "but." I have a woman friend of 10 years (call her J), to whom I've always been attracted. Years ago, I persuaded myself that it was primarily a physical attraction, and that intellectually and emotionally, my connection to my wife was stronger and more important than anything else. It doesn't feel that way now. I can't point to anything that's changed lately; it's just a growing feeling that J is the person I feel closer to, feel more at ease with, and want to be with all the time. Maybe it's the fact that she is the opposite of my wife in some key areas: She's independent, financially responsible, stays on an even keel emotionally, and does not use her keen intellect as a weapon. Somehow, this remarkable, wonderful woman can't seem to find a permanent mate and is still single.
J is not perfect; I don't have her on a pedestal. And none of this is new. When I was deciding to ask my wife to marry me, I went through a process of weighing pros and cons and the equation included my attraction to J. If I could do it over again, I would come to a different conclusion.
The path of least resistance is to maintain the status quo. Even after allowing a proper interval for the dust to settle, there's no guarantee that I could ever be anything more than friends with J. Separating from my wife would have to be couched in terms of wanting to be single to find a new relationship that would make me happier and more fulfilled. Putting it in those terms would force me to tell a half-truth -- I would have a hidden agenda, an unappealing prospect. I just feel stuck and would really appreciate some compassionate advice that you're so good at dispensing.
Ponderously Pondering the Possibilities
Dear Ponderously,
I have pondered this and here is how I see it: Right now you have two good relationships, one with your wife and one with your friend. Neither one is perfect, but they are both good and valuable. And each has the capacity to grow and change, to become better. So you are in a pretty good spot. If you separate from your wife, you lose one of those relationships right off the bat. So you are down to one relationship, the weaker of the two, a relationship that might be weakened still by your new single status. It might blossom, but you have no reason to believe it would. Keep in mind, your independent friend may value the fact that you are married; your status may in fact form a boundary that makes the friendship possible. So you are contemplating throwing away one good relationship and putting another at risk in the hope that you will become happier and more fulfilled.
If you want to become happier and more fulfilled, I think there are less destructive, less risky, and more innovative ways to go about it.
The question you need to ask, I think, is: How unhappy are you now with your marriage? Are you so unhappy that it would be better to be alone? It's normal to be unhappy at times, and it is hard to pinpoint exactly what is making you unhappy while you are still in your routine, so it is common to say, Well, if only I weren't married, maybe I wouldn't be unhappy. If you simply need to be alone in order to have some peace of mind, perhaps you could go somewhere for a few weeks to get out of your daily marriage routine and try to re-inhabit some of your native contours.
I would try that, first. You seem to have good communication with your wife, so you could explain your need for some solitude to her. But perhaps there are other things you need to talk with her about. Perhaps you have been wounded in some way that you haven't fully acknowledged; perhaps you are angry at your wife for something she did, but you aren't coming clean about it. That may be the reason you find yourself drawn to this other woman, with whom you have a less difficult history. Think about it. Is there some way your wife hurt you that you would like to get back at her for? I don't know for sure, but when you describe your friend's best qualities, you contrast them with some traits of your wife. You mention that your wife uses her intellect as a weapon. Has she wounded you with her intellect in some way that you have yet to acknowledge? If I were you, I would look at that, and see if you can't make peace with her.
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