Really broken now....
I can identify with the “gave everything I could, but it wasn’t enough” situation. I lived it. I realized as it was happening that I could have tried to move heaven and earth and it still would not have been enough. In other words, it was not in my power to save the marriage because she had already thrown it away. Yes, it was a crushing blow, but I also realized she was not worth my life or putting my sons’ lives at risk for doing something stupid.
Now after 13 years, with no help from me, my sons have lost their respect for their mother. I am still single. She remarried a couple of years ago. And on occasions, I see little signs that she realizes she made some monstrous mistakes. But moral victories are worthless and the scars have caused problems for my sons. Very sad and unnecessary.
As Dr. Laura says, men are such simple creatures their wants and needs are very few. Its so sad that so few women realize that so little is all it would take for her man to go through hell fire for her and all she has to to do is live up to the basic commitment that was made in their vows. No doubt it works both ways but there are some very basic reasons why women are the ones who initiate over 75% of the divorces in the country.