We are very much in love. My wife and I have been married for over 30 years and I could not imagine my life without her. Our friends and family probably think that we are fucking like rabbits because of our frequent PDA's.
Behind closed doors, however, our sex life had always been just adequate. We never were adventurous and fell into routines. The kinkiest thing we would do was when my wife would occasionally reward me with a finger in my ass while I was on top of her. We did not prioritize sex in any way. There were complicated reasons for that dealing with my wife's childhood sexual trauma and my desire not to put any pressure on her.
I still grew resentful at being reneged on about 50% of the time when she initiated and rejected even more when I initiated. I no longer anticipated sex and I started to shut down my responses to her assuming that no matter how she was flirting with me we would not be having sex.
In our last ten years, we have been empty nesters with our son off to college but somehow our sex life fell off a cliff. We would average less than once a month with a year in there where we had sex only 4 times. To add insult to injury, I am now in my 50's and erections are less reliable than they have ever been. It is completely devastating when you can't take advantage of a rare opportunity because of mind over matter.
My wife made a conscious effort to bring sex back into our lives. It was very difficult to uncouple my resentment and the way I had turned off my response to her. I did not feel quite secure and we had more than our share of failed attempts but there were attempts. We would spend naked time together and cuddle but I knew my wife was trying her best and now I was the one failing her.
She curled up against me during one of those sessions and we had a long talk. We agreed that we needed some help so we decided to see a sex therapist together. We found Dr. Stern on the internet. She advertised a "hands on" and "intimate" approach to therapy. She was board certified and had glowing reviews saying how she had "changed my life" and "opened me up to new things." Dr. Stern agreed to work with us. She wanted to meet with us individually first before she met with us as a couple.
My wife made her appointment first and Dr. Stern worked with her for 2 hours. She would not tell me how it went or what they discussed and I understood. We held each other until we fell asleep on the couch. When we woke the next morning she smiled and told me that she can see a bit through the fog that she did not even know was there before.
About a week later, I had my appointment. I was greeted by Dr, Stern who was a tall severe blond woman. She informed me that she would not share the details of our session with my wife and the same would be true with the details of my wife's session. We talked for approximately 20 minutes about my feelings of resentment, desire not to pressure my wife and my deep frustration at my inability to respond now that my wife was reaching out. She let me know that she thought she could help but would need to understand our interactions a bit better and scheduled a couples session for the following week.