I would love to hear the report’s take on what happened. The “and I still love her” epilogue makes me think that she probably has a pretty different take.
And third parties that he lost friendship with. It seems like there was a lot of drama at that point that goes further then just having relationship.
To be fair, he said something about a failing startup which is likely to take work friendships to the limit anyway.
I suspect this story starts long before the author and their wife discover they have nothing in common. These (marrying before realizing incompatibility, then the obsessive all-or-nothing relationship with their direct report) sound like behaviors of someone who uses relationships to fill holes. I didn't really understand this about myself until starting therapy 1.5 years ago. I hope the author sees a good therapist. You deserve to be happy.
I really enjoyed this. Very real.
My immediate thought after reading the thread was that it could have been told as a 300 page novel, and it would have been significantly worse off because of it.
Fascinating. Glad this guy shared his experience.
It's nice that this guy's initially sad story turned out well for him. But why is the focus on the fact that he fell for a "direct report". Is the purpose of his post to tell a story about how he turned his life around through love? Or is he trying to suggest that becoming romantic with someone you manage is good? It's a nice little story, but it has an agenda.