This article about Jenny Sanford fills me with gloom. How on earth could a man cheat on a woman who appears to be this gracious, smart and beautiful?

The answer could be this:

‘Politicians become disconnected from the way everyone else lives in the world. I saw that from the very beginning. They’ll say they need something, and ten people want to give it to them. It’s an ego boost, and it’s easy to drink your own Kool-Aid. As a wife, you do your best to keep them grounded, but it’s a real challenge.’

A challenge? Apparently.

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Brigitte disagrees: She gives me hope, not despair. (Her husband is obviously an idiot, or at least a normal decent guy who somehow became an idiot.) This bit from the article you link to caught my eye:

I think”—she chooses her words carefully—“my husband has got some issues that he needs to work on, about happiness and what happiness means. You wish it wouldn’t come to a crisis like this, but I think when a lot of men get to this midpoint in life, they start asking questions that they probably should have asked a long time ago.” A former investment banker and a stay-at-home, full-time mother, Sanford doesn’t share her husband’s angst. “Midlife aging is different for men than for women,” she says. “Mark is worried about what his next job is. He worries about making money, running for office again, his legacy. I know my legacy is my children. I don’t worry about that.”

“I don’t worry about that.” How sweet the sound, indeed.

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Andrea adds: Thanks for your perspective, Brigitte. She’s cause for hope, sure, because she’s coping and gracious. But I still fall prey to thinking that if you “do things right” you’ll be safe from agonizing emotional pain. It doesn’t work that way, not in my life, and clearly not in hers. Some things are not a choice–I suppose I should celebrate the fact that this life is not fair, I am responsible only for my own actions, not those of others, and move on.