My Parent's Reconciliation Vacation (excerpt from Proverbial Woman), Part IV

“Inside this locket is a recent photo of the girls and me. It is their good luck charm to you. They are hoping we can reconcile our differences and get beyond what has happened over the past nine months. And just maybe, with it being something that you would cherish, perhaps in good faith let it serve as a reminder of what we are fighting for.”

“I hope so… I truly hope so,” she whispered as she leaned in and gently kissed him, as tears overflowed her reddened eyes.

“Shall we make our way on down to the restaurant? Our reservations are for 8:30,” he added.

“Sure. Let me pull myself together, and gather a few things.” her voice streamed behind her, as she moved into the bedroom.

In a disoriented sway he slowly turn as he reached for his jacket that rested on the back of the stool. While turning, out of the corner of his eye he aimlessly caught glimpse of his reflection in the mirror that hung above the bar. Sadly noticing a despairing look of apprehension settling upon his face, in a quieting stupor he slowly slid back unto the stool. 

Reluctantly returning to that once painful place in his heart, he sadly realizes his wounds are still tender beneath his confident facade. My father always handled himself well under stressful circumstances. Usually he would come out even better than he expected.

But this…this challenge he is faced with, I must say it is turning him into someone I’ve never seen before. As a woman of learned lessons I’ve come to realize that you can only bend a good man so far before he exceeds a breaking point. As a professional in the discipline field of Psychology, I’m expected to feel comfortable verbalizing analytical thoughts. Yet under similar circumstances I’ve also learned to first consider the affect piercing words could have on another’s heart.

Words can sometimes come across as untamed as ones emotions when set upon a destructive course. Powerful in their pursuits, while reeling from the heart under the veil of self-expression, tragically they can mislead an uncontrolled tongue into spells of vile verses. Sometimes just the thoughtlessness behind a response can cause a great deal of pain to another.

My father understood the value of well-chosen words. He also has come to understand how incomprehensive true love could be under challenging circumstances. Though just as well, he believes in order to understand the nature of its complexity, one has to be willing to surrender over to it unconditionally.

Never has a love story been told before it was painfully felt in the heart of the giver who gave to another without discretion. Nor will a loving heart ever grow in strength without first embracing trials exposing of its weaknesses.

Though as for me ever having hope of achieving lasting love and happiness, their situation has lead me to believe that marriage presents a greater chance of causing more challenges in my life, than enhancing the quality of it. Though a cynic I may be, I do believe in love. But I also believe in human nature, along with the pain that is left in the wake of a broken heart.

What they’re enduring is a sad testimony to what people would go through to achieve a sense of happiness. Struggling to hold on to something I once considered superior to others, I never once thought it would happen to them. Much less, my sister and me.

As a teenager growing up it was always the parents of someone else I knew, or someone that my friends and I would joke about in high school. In my early years of college, I watched many girls lose interest in their studies as a result of their parents fighting their way through bitter divorces.

There was one girl who would bring her problems back to school with her.