Fourteen years ago, I was a carefree college student.  I was content with life, was climbing the proverbial ladder as if there were no obstacles in my way, but I longed to be in a relationship.  I spent much of my time kissing frogs and drinking far more than my share of tequila. Six months later, I found you.

I should have seen the warning signs early on in the relationship, but I forged ahead. Six months turned into a year. One year turned into five.  And by our seventh year together, we had a child, a mortgage and a blended family of sorts. A yours & ours. I was happy, the kids were happy.  You were not, and you had an affair.

Again, I should have seen the signs. We argued, I fought for the relationship, you blamed me for the affair. We worked through “our” issues, I thought.

We added a child, lost family members, added a house and then the ugly monster reared it’s head. You were not happy again. And again it was my fault. There was no affair –  just a threat of suicide.  I talked you out of it. I thought we worked through “our” issues and we forged ahead.

Eight months later, you were unhappy again, you were suicidal again.  And again you felt it was my fault.

You came home because you had no where else to go, but you tricked me into thinking that you wanted to be here.  You insisted you wanted a “normal family”. But when push came to shove, you finally admitted that you really never wanted to come home, never wanted to be with me,  you just had no where else to go, no job and no family.

So you have decided that you are done with me, you don’t want to have the “stress” of owning a house (or two).  You say you want nothing, but refuse to leave until your “name is off the house”.  You say you need no one, and that you can do it all on your own.  Yet we all know you are wrong.  You know you are wrong.

Your anger and your blame has nothing to do with me.  It has to do with whatever it is that you are hiding from.  You need to find help, we need you to find help.

Help doesn’t mean you have to stay with me and your family.  Help means fixing you, and whatever it is that is making you unhappy.  Because fixing you is fixing our children.  Because when you are broken, it breaks them.

You deciding that we are not going to be “us” anymore is probably the best decision you have made for all of us.  Because I can no longer take the blame for your shortcomings and insecurities.  I have my own, and I need to be the best example I can be for our children. I know I am not strong enough to leave you on my own and I still want to “fix” you/us.

So while you waver in the wind and deny you need help, I’m going to get help for myself, my children and my own well being.  I will seek out legal advise and I will seek out counseling for me and for our children. I will find my way from here.

But, I hope someday you will realize how much you are loved, how much you have hurt us and how badly you need to be fixed.  I hope that you make the choice of life and that you realize your kids need you, not a “replacement daddy”, as you like to say.  I hope you that you make the choice to fix you, so that they too can be fixed.