Reddit Stories - Father DEPARTED, leaving grandma and me to manage the STRUGGLING family BUSINESS six

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #familybusiness #grandma #struggle #responsibility #lifechanges  Summary: After my father departed, my grandmother and I were left to manage our struggling family business. The sudden responsibility weighed heavily on us, forcing us to navigate challenges and adapt to new roles. Together, we faced obstacles, learning valuable lessons about resilience, teamwork, and the importance of family support.  Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, family, business, struggle, resilience, teamwork, lifechanges, support, challenges, growth, adaptation, lessons, responsibility, journey, memories, bondingBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6816713/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.

All episodes, completely add free with an Apple podcast subscription. Cancel any time. One-time offer, $2.2. Episode with two stories, first part. I hope you enjoy this story. Father departed, leaving Grandma and me to manage the struggling family business six years prior. I transformed it into a lucrative venture. Grandma then passed away and bequeath everything to me.

Me. Now Dad comes crawling back. back. Hey, so I, 24F, recently came into a lot of money after my grandma passed away and that's become the bone of contention between me and my estranged father, 48M. My parents got married a month after I was conceived after dating for two years. I was the real reason they got married and initially, everything was nice and happy. But then my mother was diagnosed with stage three throat cancer and before I was old enough to even process it, she was gone. She passed away when I was really little, around five or six years old after battling cancer for a really

long time. After that, it was an uphill climb for all of us emotionally because it was really difficult to process a loss like that since my mother was very young and so was I. My mother's parents lived in Missouri and would often come to visit me here in San Francisco but they couldn't take care of me full time. So I lived with my dad and my grandma, my dad's mom. Things were tough because my dad was also kind of young and he had a family to support now. For the first 10 years, it was easier since my grandpa was around to take care of the family business. It wasn't a very large scale or successful business, but it was something nevertheless and it could put food on the table so at the time, that was enough. My grandpa would run the family

business and my dad was trying to make his way up the corporate ladder. Then when I was 15, my grandpa passed away from a heart attack and our family fell apart. My grandpas. My grandpa had left the business to my dad and my grandma to run, but he didn't want it, and so the responsibility fell entirely to my grandma who literally had no idea how to run a business. She'd never been to college and had married her husband young, and after that, she'd just been a song. She considered selling the business but couldn't bring herself to do it because she knew how much it meant to her husband. She couldn't sell it because of her sentimental attachment to it and that led to a lot of problems between her and my dad, who wanted to sell it and

move into a bigger apartment and a more upmarket address so he'd be able to impress his business associates with it. After a lot of fighting, my grandma told him that he could ditch the business if he wanted to but she wasn't going to sell. Somehow, we managed to rope in my maternal grandparents to buy out my dad's shares so he could be rid of it all but we'd still keep the business within the family and they agreed to it because they'd always been on good terms with my grandma. But that wasn't an end to all of our problems like we'd expected it to be and in fact, it was just the beginning. Like I said, my grandma had no idea how to run a business and so it was really difficult for her to keep it up and running. She was thankful that some of my grandpa's employees

had still stuck around and were trying to help her when a lot of them quit after my grandpa died. Honestly, can't blame them either because in the first couple of years, my grandma wasn't very good and things were going really badly for us. I was just 15 so obviously I was of no help. My dad used to live with us, but he was of no help to us whatsoever. Every time my grandma would try to ask him for advice or help, he would shut it down and get mad because he didn't want to hear about it and his only solution to any business-related problems was to just sell it off and let it go. But at that point, we couldn't even do that because the business was doing so badly.

It wasn't profitable enough for someone to even buy us out and we were a local, small-scale business so it was getting harder and harder for us to keep up. My dad was of no help and the employees were quitting left and right, but in spite of all of that my maternal grandparents tried to be supportive and even offered to involve more people to fund the business, but my grandma refused because she couldn't put more money at risk back then. Things got even worse when after a year. My dad met a woman at work and moved in with her so now my grandma and I were completely on our own because he wouldn't even come back home to us. He would send us some money occasionally, but we were literally living hand-to-mouthed by then.

He didn't take me with him to live with his new girlfriend because she wasn't comfortable with the idea of having to live with his ex-wife's teen daughter. My dad would come by once a week for dinner with the family but even then, he wasn't all there with us and would either be on the phone or just silently eat his dinner and then leave. It was clear to me then that he was just doing it as an obligation but he didn't want to spend any time with me or his mother at all. At 15, I finally gave up any hopes of my father ever stepping up and being a good dad to me. Until then I'd still hoped and prayed that someday we might have a good relationship, but after he moved in with his girlfriend I gave up because that was never going to happen. Then a couple of weeks before my 18th birthday, he proved me right by cutting ties with us entirely. He eloped with his second wife and didn't even bother to tell us in person.

He sent us an email to inform us that he was moving to NYC with his wife and said that he didn't want us contacting him anymore. I was not going to be a minor anymore in just a few weeks so he had no legal obligations tying him down anymore. I wasn't surprised in the slightest, but my grandma was disappointed so I had to be strong through it all for the both of us. He'd blocked me and my grandma so we couldn't contact him and I think he'd even changed his number. I was mostly worried about how I was going to pay for college because I really couldn't afford a student loan given how ridiculously difficult they are to pay off in the future. I already knew I wanted a business degree and my grades were

decent too, so I was desperate to go to college and learn things that would help me and my grandma in the real world. I'd already been doing a lot of research and homework on how to restart the business, which had been nothing but a huge liability so far and we'd made it even worse somehow. Financially, we were doing pretty badly and now it was about to get worse because my dad had left. We could have asked for help from my maternal grandparents, but they'd already helped us out with the business and we couldn't just keep on asking them for more. Both of them were retired teachers and it wasn't like they had a fortune to spend either. I just couldn't sit by and let that happen so as a last resort,

I decided to take matters into my own hands instead of waiting for someone to come along and fix things for me. I was supposed to start college in the fall but a couple of months before that, around the same time as my birthday, I decided that I was going to go online and try to promote our family business. I can't say exactly what we deal in because that might make us easier to track, but it's something that appeals to women mostly. We did have a business page but it was useless and mostly inactive because with school and

household chores that my grandma couldn't do due to her age, I didn't have the time to look after that as well and my grandma wasn't very good with social media. So it was just there, it existed but it was of no use to us. Around 2017 to 18 the whole promotion of small, local businesses on social media was sort of working and once I graduated from high school, I decided to put all my time and energy into that before college. So while my friends were out celebrating this new chapter of our lives, I was back home applying to colleges that I could afford to attend even by a long shot and working on rebooting the page. Luckily, around a few weeks in, one of our posts about a certain product went viral, and soon enough our inbox was flooded with people from all over the state

wanting to buy from us. Not just that one product but also others that we sold and we grew exponentially in the coming few months. We were able to pay off all our debts over. time and even started saving, thanks to the sheer power of social media. It's been six years and we're still going pretty strong. I wouldn't say that we're millionaires but our business was doing well enough for me to be able to attend college without loans or anything. After I graduated, I came back and took over running it all so that my grandma could retire and that's how it's been for the last couple of years. Now earlier this year, my grandma passed away and I was shattered over it because she was my whole world but I was happy

that she'd passed in her sleep. She was in her late 70s and had lived a long and eventful life. She died of natural causes and passed away peacefully and painlessly. That's more than enough for me. I didn't tell my dad or call him to the funeral because I didn't know how to reach him. I could have, of course, done some digging to find out, but I didn't want to do that because it didn't seem worth it. Also, if I hadn't done that when he'd abandoned us, then I didn't see any reason for me to do it now. It's been several months since my grandma passed. It's been several months since my grandma passed and recently, I was informed of her will. She left her shares of the business to me while the remaining 50% was still owned by my maternal grandparents, but I know that

they're going to leave their shares to me as well, so I really owned this business now. What came as a surprise to me was that she'd also left the house and all her savings to me as well, and she'd managed to save a lot over the past six years because she'd lived the same frugal and modest lifestyle that she'd always been used to. So I basically inherited everything but my father also inherited something that I found out about only recently. He'd inherited this really old and weird abstract painting that my grandma kept in the living room even though it was very ugly and didn't go with the room's aesthetic at all. Apparently, that was something that my dad had insisted that she buy at an art exhibit when he was 10 years old and she'd kept it all these years as a memory.

All of this happened a couple of weeks ago because my grandmother had left strict instructions that the contents of the will were not to be disclosed until the probate process was done. My grandma's lawyer had notified both me and my dad when the process began and it had been shortly after the funeral. He was very upset that I hadn't contacted him first, but even the lawyer had to hire a professional to locate him so it was ridiculous for him to even expect that I'd go to such lengths for a person who hadn't checked on us even once in the last six years. We didn't speak after that for months until recently, when the reading of the will took place and it was a virtual meeting since we were in different states and he was too busy to fly down here. There, I was told about what I'd be getting out of this and my dad only had one dusty old painting so there wasn't much to say there. She'd also left my maternal grandparents a little money and some of her jewelry as a thank you for everything they'd done so they were part of the meeting as well.

We were all present to witness the spectacular meltdown that my dad had once he realized that he was only getting one painting that wasn't even worth much. He yelled at me and accused me of stealing his life from him, said that I was a crook and whatnot. It got to a point where he had to removed from the video conference by the lawyer so we could end it. He'd have to be there to sign a couple of documents in a few weeks anyway, so I knew that this wasn't over as long as he didn't get what he wanted, but I didn't care. I knew that I deserved all of this and that I'd worked hard for it. It hadn't just all been handed to me, but I'd earned it. Throughout college, I would make sure to teach my grandma all she needed to know and sometimes we'd even

end up on calls at odd hours so that she could consult with me before making any financial decisions, so I was not only keeping my grades up, but I was also working on keeping the business up and running. I was also running the social media page along with a couple of interns I'd hired, so I'd been working for the business right for my college days. I'd earned every bit of this, and yet that didn't seem to be good enough for him. I wasn't worried at the time, but three days back, my dad came by to visit me and it was a very emotionally charged reunion for us. He'd come back for the signing of certain documents that we were already done with so we didn't need to be there. He told me that he'd come to visit me right after meeting with the lawyer and even though

my grandma's attorney refused to tell him about my inheritance, he'd figured out that I'd inherited the business and the house. While he was at the door, he told me that he just wanted to talk and clear the air because it had been a long time since he left. He didn't want our relationship to get worse and worse with time, so I decided to have a discussion with him once and for all so we could clear the air or whatever. Most of whatever he said just sounded like excuses and I wasn't too touched by it. He was in a bad space and was still struggling to do well at work.

He wanted a fresh start without any reminders of his past. He was really stressed out and stuff, blah, blah, blah. It wasn't the struggle story he thought it was and it definitely didn't excuse him for whatever he'd done. I was just waiting for him to get that story over with when he told me that now that he was back, he wanted to join me and come on board as an investor or maybe even a co-owner. I said no without even thinking about it because there was just no way that it was happening. Not after he literally abandoned me and my grandma and didn't even bother to contact us ever after that.

He'd let me and my grandma down on multiple occasions and had never once stepped up to be the father that I deserved or the son that she deserved so now. He didn't just get to hop on the bandwagon and piggyback on what was supposed to be my success. I told him that I wasn't okay with that and if that's really what he was here for then he could just leave because it was never going to happen. He could save his breath instead of trying to convince me, but he went on to get annoyed and tried to make it seem like that's not all he was here for. He even said that he genuinely wanted to reconcile with me and rebuild our relationship, but he'd blown his cover already so I wasn't going to fall for any more of what he was saying.

I didn't even want to hear him out, but he went on and on about how I was overreacting and he just wanted to help. At one point, I told him that if he didn't leave then I would call the police and he flared up at that. He called me ungrateful and of course, he played the mom card and told me that my mother would have hated this. I didn't even care and told him that if my mom was around then maybe he would have still stuck around but unfortunately, I kind of grew up without either parent and it was mostly my grandparents who raised me. So if I owe anyone anything, it was them and not him. He always just did the bare minimum for us and thought that it was all right so now he could expect the bare minimum in return too. That seemed to shut him up for a while but I could

could see that he was getting all teary-eyed and that made me really uncomfortable because my dad hardly cries. I've literally never seen my dad cry ever, not even when his dad passed away and they were pretty close. So his crying was a huge deal because he was mostly a stoic guy. I took a step back at that moment and he told me that I had no right to that business because at the end of the day, it was his father who had built it for him and now I just swooped in and stolen it all away from him. Then he walked out and I could actually hear him crying as he walked away. It's been three days and I can't help but think that maybe what he said was true. This business had been intended by my grandfather to be taken over by my father eventually, but he rejected it and so this came to me.

The least I can do is make him a partner in the business, but if there's no trust then there's no point. I don't understand what to do. I'd offer refusing to let my dad join me in the business my grandfather left us after he abandoned me and my grandmother for six years? Update 1. Hello. So I've decided to stick to my previous decision of not letting my father join me in the business. He rejected it first when it had been offered to him and then went MIA for six years, which is when my grandma and I handled it all. He doesn't deserve this and I know that now. Besides, I also found out that he has literally no credibility in the market at this point. I had people do some digging on him and we found out that he's most definitely living off of his wife's money at the moment because both the businesses he'd been involved in the past had failed.

One of them had been a seafood restaurant chain that lasted for a couple of years but then eventually had to be shut down after facing a lot of losses and then, two years ago, he tried to get into the food industry again with another product idea which also didn't work and shut down relatively faster. his wife some biggie in the corporate world and is the CFO of her dad's company which finally helped me make sense of why my dad was so willing to dance to her tunes back when they were dating. I'm sure that even if he wanted to invest or buy out part of our business, he'd do it with her money because I highly doubt he has any of his own at this point. After two failed businesses in six years, it seems unlikely and I'm sure that joining me was his last attempt at making something of his own so he could stop living off of his wife's wealth. Too bad it's not happening because we're doing just fine without him and his money. And more importantly, if I can't trust him on a personal

level, then I don't think I'd be willing to involve a person like that in my business that my grandma and I have worked so incredibly hard to revive. I'm glad that I posted about it here because a couple of the comments were really brutal with the reality check. Ha! I was allowing him to gaslight me into believing that he had any right over the business now after he'd sold his shares so long ago. All that emotional manipulation almost got to me, but I'm I'm lucky I didn't break. So anyway, that's not happening anymore and I hope he doesn't come back to try and change my mind either. Update 2, hey, everyone.

My dad flew back to NYC last Monday and today's Wednesday. So a significant amount of time has passed since he left, but unfortunately he's still holding out hope that maybe I'll let him become a partner or something. He texted me from a number I didn't have saved so he could talk to me without getting blocked. Again, he asked me if I'd reconsidered my stance on his proposal, and when I said no, he replied by saying that I was being unreasonable and that this would only help my business grow exponentially. I don't think that's true in the first place and even if it was, I still wouldn't let him come on board. I have zero trust in him and I don't respect him as a person.

I texted him these exact things to let him know just how much I didn't want him as a business partner. I also told him that I was aware of his failed businesses in the past and that he depended on his wife to fund him. So technically, it wasn't even his money that I was refusing, it was his wife's. The bottom line was that no matter how much he offered, he was not going to be made a partner in the business and neither could he join as an investor. He had put in no time or hard work so the entitlement to expect this from me was ridiculous. I blocked him after saying that and he hasn't been able to contact me since although I did notice that he was typing something

when I blocked him. I really don't want to find out what it was that he was saying because I have A. No interest in B. No time to talk to him. I'm done with this situation and I just wish he'd let it go too. Update 3, so I'm not entirely sure, but I think the drama regarding my dad and the business is over now. I didn't do anything though, it was all him. He made the mistake of spamming my comments with thief, crook and tons of bad reviews. None of which were true, of course. My business depends heavily on word of mouth, so this was really bad for me. And my dad was well aware of it, which is why he did this. It just proved what a huge gold digger and selfish jerk he was because if he had any respect for his father at all, he wouldn't have tried to sabotage me and the business he built from the ground up.

So I filed a case against him for trying to defame me and that was enough for him to back off, probably because his wife wasn't going to tolerate it and they had a lot to lose if I chose to go public with that information. I've also filed a petition for a protective order against him. I don't know what's going to happen with it though, but he had been harassing me online and I'm sure it would have gone on for a long time if I hadn't initiated legal action against him. Anyway, this is where it ends hopefully. I'm doing great and even though I do miss my grandma sometimes, I know she'd be proud of me and how far I've come. How far both of us have come, actually. Thank you for being there for me throughout this because even though you guys don't realize it, Reddit has sort of become a safe space for me during these past few days.

Venting to you guys helped me keep my head straight and I couldn't be more thankful for it. That's the end of the first story. Let's begin the second one. I hope you enjoy this story. Just a gentle prompt prior to the video starting, you will listen to two anecdotes in this video and both contain four. fresh developments. Now moving on to the initial tale. A fortnight earlier our wedding, I discovered my fiancée's infidelity. I had to pretend everything was fine at our friend's destination wedding,

where I can't leave. I am mostly writing to try and get some relief, since I have no one to tell and I feel like my body is turning inside out. After months of browsing this sub, reading the horror stories and thinking that could never happen to me, I have some content to contribute. Boy do I, My 25F, fiancé, 28F, and I are, were, getting married in two weeks. We've been together over six years and lived together most of that time. Known each other for eight years. Relevant, I am a lesbian and she is bisexual. We've built a wonderful life together and I was excited to take the next step.

I truly thought I knew this person. I am typing this from the hotel of our good friend's destination wedding. They got married yesterday, today and tomorrow were supposed to be for fun and celebration in the local area. They have not been so for me. After the ceremony yesterday, my fiancé got rather intoxicated. She fell asleep like a rock after I helped her wash up and get dressed. She was out, so I took the opportunity to do something I now regret, but at the same time

was probably the best decision I ever made. I snooped through her phone. I wish I had a better reason for why I did it, some big Sherlock level hunch, but I don't. I did it because we're getting married soon and I wanted to see what she was saying to her friends about me and the wedding. She was being a bit more secretive with her phone which made me curious. I did it for the same reason people wished they had mind-reading powers. I searched her texts for my name. Nothing mind-blowing and it was actually very positive. I was feeling a little warm and fuzzy. That's when I got the bright idea to search for the word,

sex. I wanted to see if she talked about our sex life with her friends, maybe about what she liked the most or didn't like. Instead, I pulled up texts with a man, a friend of a friend who lives several states away. They send each other photos and sext. I kept scrolling up and up until I came across the nail and the coffin. He had traveled to our city so they could meet up for coffee and sex. The evidence was complete as could be, sealed with a selfie of them together that he sent her. She couldn't even be bothered to delete them. I hid in the bathroom and shook like I was possessed. It felt like a nightmare and part of me still hasn't accepted it. So began the worst 36 hours of my life so far. I couldn't confront her without causing a scene at my dear friend's wedding,

so I pretended that everything is normal. Not very well, I did have a couple nauseous spells I had to explain away, but I've been doing the hugging, kissing, laughing, and I love you's all day while we've all been trying to have fun at this wedding celebration. I feel like I'm dying. I keep playing the texts over in my head and running through what I'm going to say to her the second we get home. I thought about staying in the relationship, partially to avoid the total embarrassment of being that person who canceled a wedding last minute, but I realized I would be setting up my

life for failure if I did. There are several things looking back that are red flags, namely the timeline of when she ended her last relationship before starting hours. She swears she broke it off with her old girlfriend before we started dating. Old girlfriend had a different story that I brushed off when my fiancé insisted that she was insane. The old girlfriend does have issues, but I think she may have been telling the truth about this one. I think my fiancé is a serial cheater.

I hope I have the strength to make it through tomorrow and the 10 hours. trip home, as well as to do what needs to be done. Best part is we also work together at the same small company and just bought a house together. Unraveling this will be difficult. Update I found out my fiancé cheated two weeks before our wedding. I learned this while at our friend's destination wedding where I can't leave and have to play it cool. Please see my profile and the original post for context. Firstly, thank you all for your supportive comments. I read them over and and over during our trip, they really did give me the strength and clarity of mind to do what was right for me in this heartbreaking situation. The saga continues with my life looking like a shitty

movie, with nothing going as I thought it would. We started the drive home Sunday morning with the newlyweds, stopping part way for brunch with the bride's family. At this point my fiancé had sense that something was wrong and is getting anxious about why I was being distant. It all blew up when I, stupidly, left my phone on the table and walked away for a moment while we were waiting for food. She tried to access my phone for some reason. I don't think it was nefarious. She was right in front of the groom and may have wanted to take silly photos on my phone. In a previous comment I mentioned that I had changed my password to protect the evidence I had. Well, she did not appreciate that, not at all.

She immediately spiraled into a panic attack when I wouldn't tell her why I changed the password. She said you've been acting weird and you never change your password. Without a hint of irony, are you talking to someone? Was also asked. This was all in front of the groom. I desperately tried to play it off as I was protecting my Christmas present ideas. Normally we allow each other to be secretive with our phones around Christmas. She didn't buy it.

I tried to play it cool for the couple of. and family, but she began texting me, begging me to talk to her right that moment. Then she began crying. I figured this couldn't get any more awkward, so I beckoned her outside. She tearfully asked, did I do something wrong? Dear Reddit, the amount of relief I felt when I said I know what you did, I know about, his name, is indescribable. Part of me was happy despite the situation. Just from the relief of not hiding this knowledge any longer, like taking out a festering splinter. She at first acted clueless that quickly became he's just a friend than we didn't do anything to we only kissed and texted, and it wasn't cheating. She denies even now any sexual contact

other than kissing. All excuses devolved into repeated begging for me to stay and get married to her. She didn't even say I'm sorry until I pointed out that she hadn't even apologized in between excuses. I truly do not know this individual. You don't have to believe me, but I literally had some of your words ringing in my ears while she spoke. I held strong on us separating and canceling the wedding. I finally got her back into the restaurant on threat of embarrassing her in front of all these people if we didn't return to our friends. Not proud of that verbiage, but she was refusing to leave the parking lot to go back inside. I quickly ate my cold brunch and she stared at hers, Shell shocked. By this point it's painfully obvious to everyone around that something is very wrong.

I reassured our friends multiple times that we are okay and the situation has nothing to do with anything they did. I'll tell you more later, but let's just get home for now. I didn't want to tell them the truth right then and subject us all to a long car ride with that knowledge hanging in the air. In an incredible twist of fate, I spend the ten-hour car ride singing and making conversation, and she spends it on the verge of tears and car sick dry heaving into a sick bag, trying to act normal for our friends. I must have seemed like a psychopath. I was so lighthearted from finally

getting the weight off my chest. The groom, bless his heart, tried to bring up our wedding plans multiple times and I redirected with jokes or anecdotes from their wedding. Side note, did you know that 99% of road trip songs are about romance and or breakups? We listened to Adele's hello from the other side twice, once belted by the bride and once by the groom. Get me out of this cliche nightmare. We make it home, and the fun only just begins. I did text the couple to apologize for our weird behavior and informed them about the cheating and canceled wedding. They have responded with messages of support and understanding. The details are already hazy, but I essentially repeated in no uncertain terms that we are no longer together, the wedding is

canceled, she will be sleeping on the couch and I expect her to move out. She became completely hysterical, following me around the house trying to hug me and repeating phrases such as we can fight for this together and I love you, say it back. I'm sad to say that things took a very dark turn. She was constantly making threats of self-harm, how she wished to die. In addition to the normal kitchen knives, I also have an extensive knife collection and several firearms. I ask her point-blank multiple times if she intends to hurt herself and she responds with I can do what I want and you don't care anyway. She watches me clear my firearms so she can't use them and says you don't think I'll find another way. I let her out of my sight for a moment. She goes to my knife collection drawer

and takes one I gifted her years ago, a small folding pocket knife. She's crying out that it's hers and I can't take it, she can do what she wants with it. I try to wrestle it away from her and she won't give it up. I gave her an ultimatum, give up the knife or I'll call the police. She refused and I called her bluff, and 911 using Siri. The moment I dialed 911 the change was immediate. We have a friend who was Baker acted and my fiancé is terrified by their stories. She immediately gave up the knife, apologized, and calmly sat on the couch. She claimed she lost herself in the moment then regained control. In her defense she was having a visible panic attack. The police were incredibly kind and professional. They eventually decided to not be a her since she was now

calm and said she was not planning to harm herself. I actually agree that this was the right call. I think seeing the police was enough to tether her back to reality. Note, OOP continued the update into the comments. The update text was saved before deleted. Post continued. After the police left we spoke for a few more minutes peacefully. She admitted that she made a mistake and was remorseful, but desperately wants to rebuild. I've held firm. I cannot live my life watching her like a prison guard, even if she's willing to do anything to prove I can trust her. There's two sides to every story. She says she did not feel loved by me at the time and I can be cold. This is true. We've had real issues in the past with me not providing enough physical

affection. Our love languages are very different. She admits that the last few months have been wonderful, but a year ago she just wanted to feel sexy and loved, which is why she messaged him. My problem is that this is the same time period that we seriously discussed marriage and I proposed. She continued to text inappropriately with him after the engagement. If she did not feel loved by me during what should have been the peak of our relationship, I have nothing left to offer her. How could I trust that she will stay by me in the truly difficult times? I've given all of myself and it wasn't enough. A powerful. A powerful. for the novel and thank you for the support. As I lay here alone in our bed, I do have hope

for a brighter future, mostly due to all of you. Now on to the next story, Story 2. Ada for keeping my wife on a short leash after she cheated on me? My 30M wife 31F of five years cheated on me last year with her friend when she was out with her friend group. She used to this often, but always came back at around 12-00M. But this time she came home. home very late, at around 5-00 am, and drunk, and I didn't press the issue that night. She was distant and didn't talk much to me afterwards the next few days. I only found out a couple days later when she confessed to cheating after I kept asking her why she was so cold to me. I was shocked, I never liked the fact that she went out to bars

and clubs, but she never gave me a reason to distrust her, until that night. I immediately grabbed a bag, packed some stuff, and left, she was begging. me to talk about it, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I was angry, upset, sad, I know that I wasn't in the right head space for this kind of talk, so I stayed with a friend. Fast forward a few days later, and I agreed to talk to her, she said she was so sorry and would never happen again, and that she would do anything to make me stay. I spent the time I was away thinking of staying or leaving, and I hate the fact that I still love her, we don't have kids together, but part of me still wanted to stay. I gave her certain conditions if she wanted me to stay. The first one

is to never see the man she cheated on me with ever again. The second was that I could see her phone or computer any time I wanted without having to ask. The last one was that she could no longer go out to bars or clubs without me. She agreed to all of this. Over the last year, she's been estranged from her friend group because she can't go out with them without seeing the man she cheated on me with, and she hasn't really made any new friends. I haven't checked her phone or computer either. I know she likes to go out, so I try my best to go with her when I have time. The bar and club scene was never my thing, but I tried to enjoy it with her. Things haven't been the same as before, and I've thought losing the she can't go out without me rule, but I keep thinking of what she did.

I've explained this to my friend, and she said I should just divorce her if I can't trust her anymore. I thought about it, I wasn't as happy as I used to be, she says she's happy with me around, but she isn't as energetic as she used to be. So, Ida? Ida has no consensus bought, but based on the comments, OOP was NTA. Update Ida for keeping my wife on a short leash after she cheated on me? Thank you all for responding. It was a little overwhelming how much attention this post got.

To clarify some things that were asked. Our relationship before seemed pretty good. I was never the club and bar kind of person, but me and my wife enjoyed going out to different places. We were both very outdoorsy, we often camping, climbing, hiking, among a lot of other things. We also like taking trips around the country, and sometimes abroad. We also had date nights once or twice a week. We both work from home, so we often had a good amount of free time. We aren't rich of anything, but we do fine. Also, to clarify something, we don't have kids and we don't want kids. When it came to our sex life, I think it was decent. We had sex three to four times a week,

and often tried new things, never with another person though. The only thing we didn't share was her habit of going out to bars and clubs. And now to her friends. Some of you were under the impression I told her to see none of her friends. I only told her to stop seeing the man she cheated with. At first, I didn't know exactly why she became estranged with the whole group. They were all part of the friend group. I met all of her friends, including the man in question. From what I know about him, he was a man whore. Nothing happened between him and my wife before, but I never liked the fact she went out

so often with this guy, even if it was in a group setting, especially with alcohol involved. I did bring this up to her, and she told me there was nothing to worry about, and that this was just insecurity talking. Our relationship now. We've gone out hiking a few times and gone out together on dates, but not nearly as often anymore, I just haven't felt the desire to. Our sex life is pretty barren as well, she's tried to initiate plenty of times, but I rarely want to.

The update I've talked to my wife, and we both reflected on our relationship, she still claims she wants to stay with me, and would respect my conditions no matter what. I asked her what she would do if I let go of the conditions. She told me she's truly ashamed of what happened, and she said she probably wouldn't go to a club or bar alone anymore. I asked about her old friends, and she told me that she doesn't want to be their friend anymore. She told me that they thought she was being unreasonable for not wanting to see the guy anymore, and that's just how he is.

Basically, they refused to cut the guy off, and they didn't like that my wife had a problem with him. I never asked her about this before, because I didn't care about how my condition was met, all that I cared about was that it was met. I've opened up a bit more and how our life now is pretty dull. She said she's aware our relationship isn't the way it was before. I asked her if she wants things to change, but she said she doesn't feel that she has the right to ask me for anything. She said she's aware it's her fault our relationship is like this. I mentioned couples therapy, and she immediately said that it was a good idea. I still resent her, but from what I can tell, she does want to make this work. I can't fully trust her yet. I still remember when she first said

that there was nothing to worry about. We decided to start couples therapy. I'll be honest though, the only reason I'm willing to do this is because she has followed my conditions for a year. But I don't think this is going to help me trust her ever again. If therapy doesn't work, then I'll leave.