The mother sure had a lot of affairs
by the end of the movie that part seemed to be a farce. Also, by the end of the movie, I kinda felt sorry for the Jeff Daniels character. He still wanted to get back together with her. And through the years he said knew she was having affairs (tickets and letters he said she left out). He didn't seem like that early and midway through the movie, but he did keep telling his oldest son he had his chances to be with other women, but he was wife his mother so he didn't (have affairs). He seemed smarmy until near the end, but maybe the 20 year old was the only one (and that was after he was divorced).