A Long Journey (Part 15) To be or not to be?

So, I was driving a truck for a living instead of Youth Ministry. Not at all the path that I thought my life would take, but I was learning an important lesson, even though I didn't realize it at the time. And that lesson is that I am NOT in control!


We did get married. And once again, lessons to be learned.


At first, it was such a wonderful arrangement. She was loving and patient, and appreciated our relationship. Even though my job took me away from home a few days a week, that was better than what it had been when I drove over-the-road and was gone for weeks at a time. And the more I worked and moved up the seniority ladder, the better my schedule became. After 18 months, I was promoted to a supervisor position. This meant that often I was home every day. The only issue was, I was the back-up when someone could not make their run, so sometimes I had to leave unexpectedly and for up to 4 days. But thankfully, I had another supervisor, and he loved going out more than I did, and often picked up those runs.


It was shortly after this job change that things also changed at home. Suddenly, there was a lot more anger in the house. My wife became extremely jealous of my son, and even of my ex-wife, who I had virtually no contact with, other than when I picked up my son. Accusations started to fly. I suggested that we seek counseling, but she would have nothing to do with that.


Than one day I came home and she had a bottle of pills in her hand, and was threatening to kill herself. I took the pills. They were aspirin, and I think it was just a ploy for help. She confessed that prior to meeting me, she had been on drugs for depression and anger, and that she had stopped taking them because of how they made her feel. That explained a lot.


I told her that we needed counseling. In fact, I made it an ultimatum. I was not going to continue to put my son through this kind of mess and do nothing about it. Fortunately, my workplace had a program in place where we could begin counseling on their dime. First 5 sessions at no cost. She agreed to go, at least for 5 sessions. I thought this was a step in the right direction.


Next Time...Living up to the ultimatum