Cheating and having another Baby

I once had the life many dream of—married to a woman I loved and raising two kids who filled my days with purpose. But I made a mistake, a life-altering one. I cheated, and it wasn’t long before the woman I cheated with became pregnant. The truth shattered everything. My wife, rightfully heartbroken, filed for divorce.

I didn’t want that. I begged her to stay, to let me fix it. I even offered to pay for her housing until the kids turned eighteen. But she refused. Out of spite or maybe just pain, she forced the sale of our home—our home with the $900 mortgage that could've been a haven. I watched everything I had built crumble.

I thought the woman I had the affair with could at least be a fresh start. But things spiraled again. Her mental health deteriorated, and she became violent. She almost killed me. When we had our second child, she became completely detached.

Wouldn’t even bathe him. She withdrew from us like a ghost haunting the house.

Desperate and overwhelmed, I told her I needed to move back near my family—to get support, to breathe again. She agreed. But just before I left, she dropped a bomb: “You can’t take the kids.” I was already at my breaking point. I told her I was going anyway. That decision shattered me, but I had no choice.

A week later, she called. Said she couldn’t do it anymore. She was flying in to drop the kids off. I felt relief, guilt, fear—all at once. I had just gotten a new job that required travel. I quit it on the spot.

We moved in with my mom. I looked for work but found nothing for almost a year. It was just after COVID, and everything was upside down. My older son had already been diagnosed with autism, and my youngest—nonverbal—was showing signs too. I was in survival mode, alone, exhausted, broken.

Then, my dad got hit by a car. ICU. Three months. He survived, but he wasn’t the same. My biggest supporter now barely looked at me. It crushed me more than I can explain.

Eventually, I found an odd job, then a real one—back in the government work I knew. Slowly, life started to stabilize. My ex, the one who nearly destroyed me, got help and medication. She came back into the kids’ lives. It wasn’t easy, but I’ve always tried to keep peace for the kids. We now split custody, and she’s doing better.

Then something unexpected happened. I reconnected with my ex-wife—the first one, the one I hurt the most. We talked. We healed. And somehow, we found our way back to each other.

I’ve restarted my life more times than I can count. I’ve learned about pain, love, betrayal, and redemption. Life doesn’t follow a script. It throws storms your way when you least expect it. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s this:

Even when everything seems to fall apart, even when you're surrounded by darkness—there’s always a way back. Maybe not to the life you had, but to the life you still deserve.