Thank you for your perspective as someone seeing this play out on a daily basis in your office.

In France way more women in power and better in pay & they're usually quite laissez faire about affairs as a culture vs USA & UK. But for sure that can play a hand in a culture. In many hunter & gatherer cultures studied paternity of the child is shared among all the woman's previous partners. They're equalitarian & promiscuity is kind of used as a binding agent for social unity. But you also got patriarchical societies where the men can do as they please. But the women face extremely harsh consequences for even suspicion.

French women are certainly more empowered socially and financially than American ones, and that is one culture where infidelity is fairly normalized.

But also, you're still stuck in a world of projecting your own values onto other cultures. On top of infantilizing women who supposedly don't have American levels of empowerment.

I know a few. But a long drawn out affair... brutal.

The few times it's worked out that I've witnessed is 1 of 2 things happened 1) the other partner made peace with the lack of monogamy & focused on all the ways they were so happy in the relationship & the relationship becomes a little don't ask, don't tell for either party when one of them goes out. But they truly do seem to have a happy & fulfilling life together & healthy sex life years later. 2) it really was a combination of weakness & opportunity @ the wrong time, usually while they were away from each other for work or family situation. Those that had a 2 year affair with the same person I can't think of one where the marriage worked out, but hey sometimes people keep that so close to the best no one ever knows so maybe those have happened among people I know and they just never shared it and moved past it. People are way, way more willing to talk about an ex & their negative traits, their cheating, etc than their current partner. OP I just wish you the best. You sound incredibly strong

20 years later... It sounds like a rehabilitated alcohol who broke sobriety years and years later. I always feel the genre that influences addiction is the same gene that influences cheating.

The point is being vindictive lol

It's one thing to disagree with Christianity. Fair game.

But Jesus definitely preached a gospel of forgiveness to his followers. The ability to forgive is like a core aspect of being a Christian.

22 months is almost 700 nights having dinner with her and their kids

Typically, when a married person has an affair over X months, they're not with their AP every single day. They might only see them once a month.

22 months, might mean they've only actually met 10 times, for example.

My wife had a 3 year affair, but they only met 9 times over that period. The first 2 years, they only met 3 times total.

What's funny, is that in reality, religious people are much more tolerable and pleasant to live around on average than avowed atheists for whom nothing and noone is sacred.

You definitely beat your children, with that mindset

Yes, your one anecdote means that everyone in the world is just like you