Where do I begin? I'm not even sure why I'm doing this to be honest, so I guess the best thing to do would be to start with the facts.
I'm a forty year-old married woman. I have one son who's eighteen and just recently started his freshman year at an out of state university. I've been married since I was twenty-one and I've never been with another man since. I live a quiet comfortable life. My husband is an executive at an oil company and as such is able to provide anything I need or want. Since I've been married, I've more or less been a homemaker, taking care of my son and trying to make my husband happy. Over that past several years though, trying to make my husband happy has been more and more difficult.
In the beginning our sex life was wonderful, and I couldn't have been happier or felt more fulfilled. I like to think my husband felt the same way. As our marriage went on, our sex life became more and more routine but was still satisfying in it's own way, at least to me. Sex didn't happen quite as often and wasn't quite as vigorous but when it did happen it was still good. For the past five years though, our sex life has been in a steady decline. Sex is rare. Once a month if I'm lucky, and nothing I seem to do makes any difference.
I don't really understand what happened. All I know is that I miss it and that I feel like I'm no longer desirable to my husband. I could understand it if I'd changed. If I'd put on forty pounds and stopped taking care of myself. But I haven't. Unlike a lot of other women who put on weight after they have children, I'm still the same small dress size I was when we married, and if anything I take better care of myself now then I did then. I have the money to get my hair and nails done and to buy clothes that I like to think my husband will find flattering and sexy. It doesn't seem to matter though, and if anything the harder I try to make myself attractive for him, the more distant he becomes.
I've often wondered if he's having an affair. I have no proof and only the anecdotal evidence of the decline in our sex life, but still I wonder. My husband does work long hours and he does travel a good bit, but he's done that throughout our entire marriage. Nothing has really changed, other than our sex life.
So I keep asking myself, what am I doing? Why am I even considering writing this? I can't quite put a finger on it. It just feels like it's something I have to do. It's kind of like talking to someone I guess, and that in it's own way is comforting, especially when there's not really a lot of people around that I can talk to.
Well here goes then.
The whole thing had been building over the course of a month or two. I first met Allen at the symphony. I enjoy the symphony very much and my husband and I usually buy season tickets. We typically go together but when he is out of town on business I will sometimes go by myself just to give me an excuse to get out of the house.
Our seats happened to be next to Allen's. The opening show of the new season is when I first noticed him. He was quite handsome, if in an odd sort of way. He wore a dark gray suit and a red tie. What first caught my eye was his height. He had to be a few inches over six feet, and being moderately short myself I've always had a eye for taller men. I think the size makes me feel more feminine. More demure.
I guessed he was in his mid-twenties. He had a slender build but it was difficult to make out more that that dressed in a suit as he was. His skin was fair and his hair was dark brown which he kept cut short and neatly combed. His eyes fascinated me and were I suppose what kept my interest. They were a mysterious shade of light green, bordering on blue, and they seemed to draw you in and make him stand out. Without the eyes, I'm sure I would have looked and wondered, but that would have probably been it.
As it was I found myself distracted throughout the concert, and even though my husband was sitting next to me I couldn't stop myself from glancing toward him and his eyes.
I wondered about him and what was he doing. Why was he here alone? I could tell he was a bit awkward and shy simply by the way he greeted me and my husband. He sheepishly said hello and then sat down next to me and didn't say a word the rest of the night.
Later on I found out that he was part of a singles club sponsored by the symphony. Its members buy season tickets and in return the symphony sponsors singles events before the show. It sounded like a good way to meet people with similar interests. I had just never heard of such a thing before.
So the first night the symphony ended and that was it. We didn't speak another word after the initial hello. Later that week though I found myself wondering about him, and what he was doing there. I kept thinking about his eyes, and how awkward he seemed, but mysterious all at the same time.
When the next show came around, my husband was out of town. I debated or not whether I should go without him. I thought about Allen, but not knowing his situation at the time I seriously doubted he would be there, and even if I knew for sure he would be, I doubt that would have swayed my decision either way. In the end I decided to go alone as it seemed a much better option than sitting home alone watching television.
When I got to my seat I was surprised to see Allen sitting in the same seat as before, dressed in the same gray suit. Once again, he awkwardly said hello as I took my seat. Without my husband though, I found it awkward to sit next to him alone in silence. I asked him a few mundane questions before the show started and he seemed like a very nice young man. He was still a bit awkward, but in an endearing sort of way, and with his eyes he began to capture my attention.