[lil']

Decisions that are made in a family affect more than those immediately involved. There is a ripple effect that spreads throughout the family system, and you are certainly experiencing that right now.

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These 3 couples were all married before me, and I had seen characteristics in each marriage that provided a positive example for my decision to get married.

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Your view of marriage has been rocked a little bit by this rash of separations. That's understandable. You may have had a belief in your head that your family was above behavior like this without even realizing it. As a newlywed, you may have wanted to believe (and maybe still do want to beleive) that marriages between two good people always work.

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Am I justified to reduce my contact with them to...show my displeasure and disapproval of their selfish and cowardly decisions?

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You obviously have very strong feelings about this, but be careful about judging them too harshly. Husbands and wives have things between them that only they know about, so it may be worth finding out more. It's highly likely that they feel terrible right now.

The good news is, they are not you. You sound very committed to your marriage, which is always good. Perhaps you could use this as an opportunity to remind yourself how lucky you are to have found each other.