That One Thing Faithful Women Secretly Crave…see more
The church pews are full of them every Sunday. Those devoted wives who bake casseroles for grieving families, who volunteer at school carnivals, who dutifully attend their husband’s company picnics with a polite smile. From the outside, their lives seem complete – the perfect marriage, the beautiful home, the well-adjusted children. But if you look closely, you’ll notice how their eyes linger a second too long on the handsome widower who helps with communion. How their laughter sounds just a bit too bright when the new tennis pro compliments their backhand.
These women aren’t looking to destroy their lives with some tawdry affair. What they hunger for is far more dangerous – they want to feel alive again.
The Slow Death of Being Taken for Granted
Sarah, a 54-year-old mother of three, told me this story over coffee one afternoon: “After 28 years of marriage, my husband touches me the same way he reaches for the TV remote. There’s no anticipation, no discovery. I might as well be furniture.” She’s not alone in this silent despair.
The tragedy isn’t that these women are neglected – it’s that they’re efficiently cared for. Their husbands provide, remember anniversaries, even give foot rubs after long days. But somewhere between carpools and mortgage payments, the thrill of being desired got lost in the routine of being needed.
The Secret Longings They’ll Never Confess
- The Forbidden Rush of a Stranger’s Glance
Not an affair – just the electric jolt when the UPS delivery man’s fingers brush hers during package handoffs. That split second where she’s not “Mrs. Thompson” but simply a woman who made someone’s pulse quicken. - Being Discovered Again
Not sexually – though that’s part of it – but being truly seen. The way her college boyfriend used to notice when she changed her shampoo scent or tried a new lipstick shade. Now? She could dye her hair purple and her husband wouldn’t remark until the pastor mentioned it. - One Unscripted Moment
No grocery lists. No soccer schedules. Just spontaneous laughter with a man who listens like every word she says is fascinating. This is why book clubs and wine nights become dangerous – not because of what happens there, but because of how they make her remember what’s missing at home.
Why They Never Cross the Line
These women aren’t saints – they’re pragmatists. They’ve built lives with intricate architecture: children’s college funds, elderly parents who depend on them, social circles that would fracture with scandal. The cost of imploding all this for some fleeting passion is simply too high.
So instead, they:
- Save screenshots of flirty text messages they’ll never answer
- Wear their sexiest underwear to parent-teacher conferences
- Let their hands linger when passing the dessert to their husband’s handsome business partner
The Men Who Understand This
I’ve known a few – usually older divorced men or widowers – who recognize this quiet desperation. They’re the ones who:
- Notice when she’s worn a new perfume
- Remember how she takes her coffee from some offhand remark years ago
- Ask questions about her opinions rather than her schedule
These men don’t pursue these women – that would be cruel. But they do remind them, through small attentions, that they’re still worthy of being noticed.
The Heartbreaking Reality
Most faithful wives will go to their graves having never acted on these longings. They’ll smile through anniversary toasts while quietly mourning the loss of their own desirability. Their husbands, good men all, will never understand what was missing until it’s too late to matter.
Because in the end, what these women truly crave isn’t another man – it’s to feel like themselves again. Not the mother. Not the wife. Just the woman she was before life turned her into someone’s reliable plus-one.
And that…that is the most dangerous longing of all.