The words, “Daddy, that doesn’t sound very good.” jolted me back into reality. My four-year-old daughter had slipped up behind me without my noticing. Quickly wiping the tears from my cheek, I turned around to see her sleepy eyes and her curly hair tossed into a bird’s nest. Clearly, I had woken her up. After […]
This is the third time this month you have been late picking up the kids. You are going to have to figure out a way to be more on time,” I said coldly. My former spouse just looked at me with a mixture of embarrassment and exhaustion. After the kids were gone and the house […]
The alarm clock started the usual morning routine by blaring its obnoxious tone. In my stupor, I fumbled for it and finally made it shut up. I was unusually tired, having had a very fitful sleep. The evening before, my wife dropped a bombshell on our marriage by telling me she was miserable and was […]
I vividly remember a day, about three months into my divorce, driving to my counselor’s office. I had been battling to keep my marriage alive for the prior two years, and, for the last three months, I had been witnessing its destruction, piece by painful piece. The emotional pain was so intense that it robbed […]
Before my divorce, I usually only prayed at Mass on Sundays and before meals. Once my divorce hit, it seemed like I was praying all the time. Well, that is, if you consider pleading praying. I was calling out (read: SCREAMING) to Jesus continuously throughout the day for Him to save my marriage. Most of […]
The low point in my divorce came on Christmas Day, 2000. My attorney (he is Jewish) called me to explain the latest legal strategy my former spouse was using in our very contentious custody battle. (Aren’t they all?!) It was bad enough that I was emotionally shattered from going through a divorce with three small […]
A feeling of relief washed over me as my cellphone began to ring. I could tell from the Caller-ID that it was an international number. My brother was working over in Italy, and I had been anxiously waiting for his call all day. Anxious is probably too mild a word to describe my emotional state […]
It was about two months into my divorce and I was at the grocery store picking up a few things to feed the kids. I was not in there for me, as I was not very hungry. In fact, I had pretty much lost my appetite since my divorce hit. As a result, I had […]
It was late one October evening and I was in my basement office. All my kids were sound asleep. Their mother was out — again. This had become part of a distinct pattern over the past year. Her late nights, unexplained absences, missing important school events, and a general detachment from family life, had become […]
I will never forget the day I dragged myself into my counselor’s office, about two months into my divorce. I was in so much emotional pain that I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. It was a chore just to walk. What made it worse was that I had reached the […]