All Comments on 'Life the Second Time Around'

Very interesting story! We control our own happiness.

5

What a thoughtful story, life is one of those journeys where there are no road maps. Forty years ago I would never have pictured my life like it is now but that's a whole other story, thank you for this one.

somewhere east of Omaha

Well that was very well written but also very sad. Thank you for the story.

Wonderful, emotional story. 5 stars!

A stunningly wonderful story. 5*. Thanks.

5*'s, you never disappoint with your great work. wonderful read. from the start to the build-up to the inevitable and glad hubby did have a good life into the winter months. well written and such a great read.

a 5 but a sad tale for sure.

Very well done. This husband strove with all he had for his wife and their marriage and she gave nothing. Maybe in her mental derangement, she was incapable if doing so. Maybe a part 2 from her point of view, but only from the point of David's kids leaving for college.

Nope. Well written but not satisfying.

I'm too confrontational to understand the passive allowance of such an invasive move into my marriage regardless of how young or cute.

I would have burned it all down and taken no prisoners.

Now that's what I call a good story! Thank you. cd

Oh yeah, 5 stars.

This was a great story and hit home. Once you realize that you can't change someone and move on, you are much happier. I don't know if you wrote this about yourself but it seems like it.

A well told good read though uncomfortably too close to the reality of my own life story. Thank God for two loving and loyal daughters who've both blessed me with grandchildren who all share the same relationship with each other and this granddad.

I'd say he dodged a bullet and GTFO. Now he can just hope his daughters don't inherit their mother's crazy.

If he wanted to keep her, or if he just wanted to bring things to a head quickly, he could have taken a job hundreds of miles way and moved. She either moves with him or she's out of his life quickly.

Helluva story.

Well written and a good story but NOPE!! The night I caught them having dinner together would have brought things to a head and for an end for me if it hadn't already. No way I would have put up with her disrespecting and humiliating me like that. The whole neighborhood had to know what was going on. And David would not have walked away scot free. He was a predator that took advantage of the situation and predators need to be put down.

One thing I do agree with your MC is I enjoy all four seasons. Thanks for posting and as always looking forward to your next story.

Excellent story. A thank you and 25 stars! lol

ooooo man, emotion packed loved it. yeah cant force therapy, which is why i always wondered why do judge court order it. i mean are judges just that stupid? maybe they get kick backs from the therapist?

Awesome, well done! 5 stars.

Thank you!

I always appreciate something new. This was very interesting. Thanks

You succeeded. In your intro, you wrote, “It is probably painful to read if I wrote it the way I intended.” I found it disturbing because it was like watching a friend freeze up on the train tracks as the train bears down on him, but he can’t make himself move. I felt like slapping the guy. Not saying his reaction was not realistic, but it reflected a Hamlet-like inability to accept the obvious that was painful to see.

Excellent. The author' warning at the beginning was spot on, it was difficult to read.

I guess that my wishes matched many other readers in that I wanted the husband to have a face to face confrontation with David, and right away. Until / or unless that happens, David may claim to being unaware that a problem had been created. Still, I feel the hubby should have voiced his displeasure, with prejudice, if needed.

The waiting to act lost the husband a bit of moral high ground, as if he was going along with the program. The minimum time to act was when he went over to David's and caught her having dinner with them, rather than being at home with her husband. Turning, and going home to pout was a tactical error. Knocking on David's door, then speaking his mind, which would have Joy on her way home, right then, else pack her shit and move to David's that night was the play.

The way the story was told, this would have failed. He and Joy would still divorce, perhaps sooner.

The plot offers no path to reconciliation. Even the therapist recognizes the futility.

David, lost a wife, but, deserved to pay a price for taking another man's wife, marriage, and happiness.

There is unplowed ground in the LW genre!

I love my grandkids, all eight of them. But I often wonder about the grandparents who look forward to spending their "golden" years babysitting the grandkids.

I've known dozens of older couples who built a retirement home just for the grandkids. They spend the summer babysitting the kids. Eventually the grandkids get older and the grandparents are now too old to do all the things they dreamed about.

I've met several men who basically live alone. They pursue their retirement dreams including travel, hobbies, etc without their spouse who is more interested in raising her grandkids than being with their husband.

There may be a generational difference between my experiences and this story but the reality of older couples leading separate lives is real.

To me this story comes from a very dark place. Either the author is very creative and full of incite, or Just_Words has had a terrible life experience in a similar aspect. It is well written and full of emotion. Although I rated it "5" the subject matter is depressing and not something I would have read for entertainment.

No thoughts of outside help??? LOVE. Slap hapy papy #9

Real gut grinding emotional intensity .

You have become one of the best that have ever written on this site at understated emotional dramas .

Your works will never be mistaken for Todd172's , but both of you are the different sides of the same , oh so talented , coin .

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The very beginning in the description of the seasons and sitting outside like he was I felt was some of the best writing you will receive. It really hit home with me even though I am New England. I love the changing of the seasons.

I think the guy did all he could as he loved his wife but as others had commented I would have been more angry and aggressive. She says there was no sex but there was an emotional attachment and tell me there was no inappropriate touching. I am sure there was a lot of touching and kissing going on with David. Maybe he wouldn't hit the guy and risk charges but I would have very early on cut the finances and tell her she had 3 seconds to choose me or him.

what the hell was this? Its not even a story.....It's an entry into a diary. I cannot believe you got more than 2 stars for this.

what a waste of time. First time she refused to set boundaries the papers would have been served. The shock of it might have changed the outcome.......aw who are we kidding the bitch was toast from the first dinner. Just move on and be happy. She made her decision and has to live with it. Don't waste time worrying about how the bitch is doing.

As for the therapist, psychiatrist. head headshrinker or as i refer to them paid friends. The only difference between them and friends and family is that you get to pay them for information you already have only don't have the balls to act on without someone else's tacit approval.

Save your money make your decisions and move forward. Take responsibility for your actions and don't put the basis of your choices on someone else. God, how did this world ever survive the past centuries without these brain washers. Oh wait back then they were called friends and family.

Psychologists and psychiatrists are this ME generations excuse to act stupid and blame it on someone else. Someone does something heinous or Kills without reason just to kill. And these morons want to arrest and study them to see if they find out why they acted this way. !!!!!!!!!WHO CARES!!!!!!!! The way to handle people like this is when they commit these acts you catch them and put them down like the rabid animals they are. "Why are they like that?" Who cares. No fan fare, no 15 minutes of fame from the parasites on the news channels. Stop giving the morons any recognition and just plant them and move on. Then the others that contemplate doing the same things will understand that all that awaits them is a swift and painful end followed by no recognition or fame. That alone would stop 95% of the additional acts that occur. The other 5% are just broken inside and need to be found and removed from the human race. No muss no fuss.

Saddest story ever written. Well written but her refusal of all attempts to get her priorities straight caused a lot of hurt to a good man.

A sad but good story.

1 star - I did not like this story at all, just cuck/wimp crap.

The divorce papers should have been drawn up months before, probably the first time she stayed for supper.

The husband was basically abandoned and it took him months to do something about it.

Wow! This reads like a true story. I really identified with the main character, since I also tried to confront someone I love with their wrong doing, but slammed up against utter and complete denial. You come away from something like that, with your grip on reality, severely shaken. Excellent work by the author in describing that.

Very clever story. Well told in respect of the subject matter. Many thanks Just Words

I’m often baffled of the choices some people make. Although Joy obviously had unresolved emotional issues, she did the same thing many women do when children aren’t involved. She was given every opportunity ( repeatedly) from different people to not go down that path. But she chose to throw her husband and stable life away. He did everything he could and much more that he should have to try to save the marriage. David shares much fault, he needed someone for his kids and he got a companion to. It didn’t matter to him that he was destroying someone’s life to better his situation. This story made be sad, and even a little nauseous.

David needed an ass beating early on. The husband should have never allowed it to begin at all.

I would have paid someone to beat David until his cock wouldn’t get hard! He can have my wife but he can’t fuck her, lol!

Sad tail. But very well written. Thank-you

I concur, well told but sad tale.

Such a good, but sad story. Very well done!

lol. pig

Well done, wish we learned why she did it. Also wanted more of his healing from the pain of her betrayal, the whole "sum up" of finding another love is disappointing.

That has been boring and not worth the read. I understand that you are going for a level of realism but realism is actually too boring to read. If it was at least fun or exciting that would be different but sad, depressing, and boring is not entertaining.

Outstanding!

The story hit way too close to home. We lost a child and my wife went through pretty much the same sequence. We held our marriage together - sort of. She was never again a happy person. She died a sad woman. And of course it colored my life as well...

A lot of understanding on your part - great job.

@Anonymous - I am truly sorry for your pain. I wrote a piece of fiction, but it was never my intention to bring old pain back to the surface for anyone. I hope that in your life you find ways to satisfy those loving desires. The world is full of people who need to get and give love. I hope you have many in your life.

Shame on Joy, she was an intelligent woman who should have seen this coming long before her husband did. She knew she needed professional help, but didn’t seek it out. She destroyed and abandoned her marriage and husband. She had a mental defect that she refused to get help for. David needed help with his kids and found a weak, submissive sucker. Shame on both Joy and David. The husband should have taken an aluminum baseball bat to David early on. If that didn’t work, he should have been a little more forceful. Again, a very well written and enjoyable story.

I do not desire to go back through all of your stories, however, I strongly suspect that everyone one of them is written around a glass of beer or bourbon.

That is a crutch that you do not need. You are a better writer than that.

@WetheNorth - For what it is worth, my typical intake is about 1 beer per week. Sometimes it's beer and sometimes it's bourbon, and usually it's when I'm reading and not writing. So, thanks for the compliment, but you misjudge me.

Very well written.

If I may, the story had a serious, major flaw.

Simply, he should have walken away much earlier than she did. His wife was an irreparably damned women, Borderline psychosia I suspect. It's heartbreaking to accept but one needs to accept that the one they loved is dead and never coming back. The emotional agony of it you have to see the she'll walking around.

A tragic story but heartwarming that he was blessed with a second life.

You warned us but that was terribly depressing. What a shit wife.

*****Great piece of storytelling sad but real. Thanks for sharing.

You were right. That was painful to read. 5*

Very powerful. Very sad.

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One thing that bothered me: why didn’t hubby, at some point before Joy abandoned him, have a heart to heart “discussion” with David about how his health depended on how quickly he to.d Joy to stop coming over?

.

4 ****

The sadness in the story is that there are thousands of people fighting a demon we can't see.

Wife ia a moron who needs professional help she destroid her own family for another one there is no forgiveness for that

Yes, very sad as written. I tend to believe that our MC could have "motivated" David to reject the wife's help. Unfortunately, that would most likely only have delayed the issue. She was broken and did not want to be fixed. It's like a drug user, they have to want to beat the addiction, it can't be externally imposed.

Cumminginsiderher is an idiot. This story is not boring, it is brilliant and well worth the read. The aforementioned commenter seems like one of those bozos who would have preferred it if Joy had been one of a harem of white hotwives to a black boyfriend with a 25 foot penis, the girth of a tree. If that's your bag then you've picked the wrong author.

can we have a 2nd part with JOY POV

A sensitive and well told story about a woman who was awfully damaged by the worst thing that can happen to a parent. Her mind was shattered by losing their son and she just never recovered. She couldn't start recovering until she realised she had a problem and wanted to recover which she wasn't able to do. I feel sorry for her as her life was just filled with sadness. She tried masking her pain and guilt, misplaced guilt, by becoming a mother to two little ones who needed a mum. I'm not sure that David was a "bad" person. He has his own issues to deal with as well. I feel a huge sadness for the MC who couldn't reach his wife and lost her to something he couldn't fight. Just a very very sad tale about how life sometimes plays out but very well told from an outstanding author. BardnotBard

Joy was seriously mentally ill. Also surprised the husband let it go with such a whimper. Yes the part about imposing your wishes is true, but she was deranged. David was the weak point. But thr MC put zero pressure on that. None. Oh well different folks, different strokes. Sometimes just trying to reason with someone mentally ill as an intevrnention does no good. Surprised their daughters didn't want her that they would completely excise Joy from their life. As in no visitation whatsoever because she was choosing to abandon not just their father but also them and their future families. For her then intervention needed to be about Jon Henry. If a psychiatrist associated with the state heard about her getting mixed up about her dead baby and the little boy Peter, they would have held her for examination. Still a good but sad story. Mental illness is a truly frightening thing in a loved one.

Excellent.

A very sensitive story dealing with a difficult issue. It is the type of story most will not read, but we all should read to be better prepared to recognize and deal with one of the hard things in life. Keep the tissues handy!

The Hoary Cleric

P.S. a 5, of course!

Very depressing but I'm glad that the MC and his daughters came out okay. I tend to agree with some of the readers that David should have had his ass kicked even if it wouldn't have solved Joy's problem. Thanks for a very worthwhile story.