On Her Side

What had once been an extremely happy household was falling apart slowly, piece by piece, and was gradually getting worse as the days and months went by. What had changed?  Was it the stress of having teenagers in the house? Or was it the constant financial struggles that burdened them ever since they built themselves a massive house to keep up with the standards of their friends?  What was it?

Their relationship had been so strong too.  It was so strong and seemingly so good that I even encouraged him to marry her.  My son couldn't have gotten a better wife, and they were so compatible before.  Tracey and Mike.  Wow.  To me, their names flowed together so naturally, like they were always meant for each other.  I think I almost loved Tracey more than my son. She was a gem, and it was such a shame to see their marriage failing.

            I remember the day so well...the day Mike came to me to tell me that it was all over.  He told me that they were getting a divorce.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, yet if I actually took the time to think about it, their marriage...well...sucked.  If I really thought about it, I had had a feeling that this would happen someday, yet the harsh reality of it struck me harder than I would have ever imagined.  This was the death of something.  The death of a relationship.  My grandchildren were now children of a broken family, and that alone made my heart ache for them.  As I collapsed on the couch thinking about my poor grandchildren and also my poor daughter-in-law, the answer came to me.  I knew exactly why the marriage didn’t work.  It was entirely his fault.  It was because of my own son that a perfectly nice family had been ripped apart.  He had never worked at being a good father when the girls needed him most.  He rarely helped out around the house, he didn’t treat Tracey the way she deserved anymore, and frankly, I knew in my heart that my son was...a bit of a failure.  Often I blame myself for how he turned out.  I’m not your typical mother and way back then, I believed in tough love.  Perhaps I went a little bit overboard.  Still, Mike could have turned out better than he did, and little did I know, but this situation was about to get a lot worse.  I was definitely on her side.