And now Prudie deals with the wife who has been putting out 2-3 times a week and he still finds someone else:
Dear Prudence, After more than 40 years of marriage, I discovered that for at least the past seven years, my husband's been having an affair with a woman he's known for 25 years. But this is way more than an affair; it's a long-term, serious relationship. When I finally caught on (it took me four years—what a dummy I am), his response was, and continues to be, "I'm in love with this person and will not run out on her." And he cites as the reason for the affair my lack of sexual interest in him, albeit that for all this time, we've had sex two to three times a week. Because he's in love with us both, he wants me to accept the situation. As he puts it, his relationship is with her and has nothing to do with me. He sees her just about every day, but because he returns home at night, he cannot understand why it's an issue. He says it's not his fault he's in love with two women at the same time. Our two adult children think the whole thing is so bizarre that they want to sign us up for the Jerry Springer Show. Financially it would be difficult for either of us to set up separate households, but she has a home, and he could move in with her. Why won't he do the right thing and leave? Most important, why do I continue to tolerate an intolerable situation? Who's the real wacko here???
Dear Mrs.,
He won't "do the right thing and leave" because you have not insisted. The reason you continue to tolerate this situation probably has to do with fear, both financial and social, and maybe even habit. Your husband is talking rings around you, my dear, which Prudie finds simply outrageous. He is not a sultan, and you are not part of a harem. Not to mention the unmitigated gall of this man to give you his numskull "reasons": The affair has nothing to do with you; it's not his fault if he loves two women; it happened because you're not amorous enough; he doesn't know why it's an issue. It is likely that most women, told to ignore an extracurricular romance—spanning a quarter of a century, yet—would break every piece of crockery in the house … over his head. Forget Jerry Springer, unless that happens to be the name of a good divorce lawyer in your town. After 40 years you are entitled to everything you can get, monetarily, and if he has to go live with his "friend," well … tell him you can't understand why it's an issue.
—Prudie, sputteringly
I am beginning to like Prudie....
