NO, I did not miss that Trippin. I have also talked about what is inappropriate too. But, there are times where "male" friends are just that "friends" too. I also know that there are male LPN's too so it's not unusual to develop friendships based on individuals who are doing the same job with the challenges that are faced in that job.

In this case as I have mentioned, there are men that are also LPN's and that doesn't always mean that spending time with these men means it's going to end up with some kind of affair.

I think when his wife caught him interacting with another woman on line it was a huge hit to her ego/self esteem and then he went off on leave and she began spending time with co-workers and also felt very wronged, unappreciated and LONELY. I think she engaged in a friendship with another male and he treated her in a way where she realized was "helpful" and made her feel good about herself. I think she loved being treated like she had value and she began to realize that had been missing for her for a long time. Yet, I also think this other guy got lonely in his relationship too, perhaps he did not feel his being just and LPN was good enough compared to perhaps his wife having a more important or successful career. He was getting appreciated in a different way too and he liked it. Yet, he is not going to give up his wife or HIS marriage.

Honestly, I don't think he loved Dad's wife, instead he just liked being appreciated and he began to realize it was getting unhealthy and he cut it off which ended up hurting and confusing Dad's wife who was already hurting and suffering from low self esteem and catching her husband interacting with another woman.

I think what happened was a "check point" where this other guy was learning things from your wife and began to look at his own relationship differently where his wife is trying to do exactly what your wife was beginning to do, establish her own identity and that doesn't mean this other guy was not important, he learned he IS valuable and even if he doesn't feel that from his career level at this time, he has value in other ways. LPN's often go unappreciated and take a lot of crap from the RN's where they end up picking up a lot of flack as it's not unusual for "staff" shortages to take place in an effort to keep costs down. So often there are fewer RN's due to the fact that they do make more money compared to LPN's. So, LPN's notoriously feel over worked and unappreciated. It's not unusual for them to vent to each other about how difficult things are on this level either. Working in the health services field can be very demanding and one does see a lot of illness and medical trauma, it's not an easy profession depending on where the person is working.

I think she is VERY confused about herself and I think she loves Dad, but has also realized her own insecurity and unhappiness which got even more complicated. What she has realized is that she doesn't want to go back to being there for her husband and her children and not really having her own sense of identity. I don't think she EVER really developed that in herself either. This is part of why she struggles to communicate and has for a long time.

If every time she talks about her friends DadFMF is going to get upset and think the worst, it's only going to push her away. I think she is struggling to find her way and will want to have friends who understand the challenge to lean on for support. I think she has a goal of becoming an RN and working towards having a better paying career which I think others in that field may also be trying to do too.

I think that her finally considering marriage counseling is a good sign too. I don't want to encourage Dad to just think the worst case scenario that he is being used because no one knows that to be fact.