Infidelity Happens

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Is This All There Is? is about Beth, a woman who’s unhappy in her marriage to Rick and is tempted to have an affair with Dave, a young admirer. She’s also overwhelmed by mothering and work and longs for an escape.

While I did not want to glorify infidelity, I did want to show the realities of it. I’ve seen it time and time again with people in my life. My hope was that by showing how it can happen, even to good people, I could possibly contribute to prevention/understanding/healing/forgiveness.

I also didn’t want to portray a negative view of marriage. I’m actually very happily married and have been for 20 years. But it takes work and making it last has required letting go of a lot of my false notions about living “happily ever after.”

To be completely honest, most of the readers I’ve heard from who can’t understand Beth’s choices have not had the experience of being in a long-term marriage themselves. Most of the readers I’ve heard from who are or have been in a long-term marriage have either a) confessed to having affairs or b) said they can easily understand how it could happen.

Here are five surprising statistics I found that explain some of the reasons that Dave was able to come between Beth and Rick. If you want to check the original data sources, here’s the website: Facts About Marriage

  1. Due to jobs, kids, TV, the Internet, hobbies, and home and family responsibilities, the average married couple spends just four minutes a day alone together.
  2. A New Woman’s Day and AOL Living poll found that 72% of women surveyed have considered leaving their husbands at some point.
  3. One in three American marriages is “low sex” or “no sex.”
  4. Nearly 60% of married adults have had at least one affair.
  5. Nearly 90% of couples experienced a decrease in marital satisfaction after the birth of their first child.

** IMPORTANT BONUS** My wonderful friend and fellow author/blogger, Amanda Askel, asked me to write a new post on infidelity, so please click here to read it: Infidelity: The Exception or the Rule? There is a short video of Dan Savage explaining why monogamy is ridiculous that you must see!!!

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