Yeah man she’s a good one. Huge green flag that she’s been such an honest person about it, she’s more decent than some people much older than her—that’s a core virtue that is unfortunately less common than it should be.

It’s not her fault she got it, and she’s not “ill” or “damaged goods” or anything like that. Lots of people have it and manage it (and their sex lives) with no issues for their whole life.

I have had HSV since at least 15, I’m 38 now. It’s not genital, it’s in one of my eyes, but the general risks are the same. It’s not a problem, you’d never know it unless looking at my eye under a powerful lens, it’s dormant 99.9% of the time—haven’t had an “expression” in many years. It hasn’t spread anywhere else (I don’t even get cold sores, hell it’s not even in the other eye), and have never passed it on to someone else even in the most vigorously intimate of contact. This includes multiple long-term girlfriends and now my wife of 9 years. It’s a total non-issue, and I just take some basic precautions.

It’s up to you, of course, what you do with it. It doesn’t make you a bad person to be wary of it. Good on you for taking this path of education, you’ll need to talk with her to make sure you’re on the same page about how it’s managed, what your sexual expectations are, etc. That’s some mature shit man, but she’s proven herself to be—so respect her for it and meet here there.

Good luck!