((((Sunrise))))

My main point was :Most importantly you are showing them that happiness is worth pursuing.

This statement: My mother modeled ....blah, blah, blah. Was intended to show you the difference between what I see you (& hopefully I) are doing and what my mother modeled. there is a clear difference at least in my mind.

If you are upset about how long it took you to reach the decision that you [i]alone[/i} cannot fix your marriage or help your husband learn to respect and treat others as human beings deserve to be treated--DON'T BE. What this shows it that you are compassionate, that you allowed yourself to love him deeply and that you went to great lengths to salvage this relationship. The fact that it failed, will not be because you are didn't give everything possible to make it work. It failed because your husband was unwilling to do the same. I see you as a very strong human being who was willing to open herself to fully to love but also willing to let it go. I admire you and I think your kids will too.