I'm happy my HUSBAND CHEATED'

Charity Craig believes her husband’s affair was the best thing  that ever happened to their marriage

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It must be every woman’s worst nightmare. The sudden lurch of suspicion, uprooting you from the inside out, the slow and shattering realization that your fears are coming true, and then finally, the moment he admits what you hoped you’d never have to hear. He’s been having an affair.

Before I started to suspect my husband Matt, then 30, was being unfaithful, I really did believe we’d be together forever. After all, Matt was my best friend, my confidant – and I was his too. Affairs were something that happened to other people, those who weren’t lucky enough to have what we had.

I’d known Matt since we were kids, we’d gone to the same youth club, and when we finally became a couple when he was 19, and I was 24, we were what friends called ‘solid’. We married three years later in January 2004, and planned to enjoy our freedom before having children. I worked as a wedding photographer and Matt was making headway as a musician, touring around the country. Only, I fell pregnant unexpectedly, giving birth to our daughter Charis in February 2006. We adored being parents so we went on to have Porter in 2007, followed by Hunter in 2008, and Christian in 2010. Life was hectic, and I was constantly exhausted – a world away from the bright, bubbly bride I was on my wedding day. I’d look in the mirror and barely recognize myself. I’d become an overwrought stay-at-home mum, consumed by the needs of my children.

Growing apart