Second Chances by William Umansky

Author:William Umansky
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HigherLife Publishing
Published: 2011-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

PARADISE LOST AND FOUND

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was eighteen when I first met Elena, and I knew I loved her from the moment we met. I will never forget her delicate, dark features and flowing black hair from the day I first saw her.

We were in college together, and when we first started going out, it was like we were in paradise. We were in a big city, studying new and exciting things, with all new people to learn about and explore. We had our whole lives ahead of us. We had barely even chosen our future career paths. It made me excited to think about going through those life-changing events with this beautiful woman. I will never forget the early days we shared in college.

When we graduated, I got a job in the communications department at a marketing firm, and she went on to law school and became a lawyer. We stayed in the city, and when we had saved up enough money, we decided to have a family. In 2006, we had a little boy, Hunter, and in 2007, we had a little girl, Violet. We were happy and making enough money to live comfortably.

The problem was that we saw each other less and less. Some weeks we only saw each other on the weekends. The absence of one of us in the house would often spark an argument over who was not there for the other person or not being with the children enough. I thought she was too into her career. She thought I wanted too much “me time.” Either way, we’d argue about not being in the house, not making enough time to be with one another, and not making time for our family.

We would usually work it out. We both knew we had to work hard to sustain this lifestyle and to send our children to good schools and give them everything they needed. I was hurt she thought I didn’t want to be around her, but I secretly thought she was acting unfairly. Every time I turned around, she had something to do for a client or somewhere to be. I guess I was trying to compromise for our own good.

One weekend night, I texted Elena over and over. I expected her home, and I had planned to take the children to a movie. I thought we could all go as a family. I thought she’d be home in the afternoon, as I didn’t think a client would take time into the evening on a weekend. But she hadn’t come home by 5:00 p.m. She hadn’t come home by 6:00 p.m., either. I rented a movie and watched it with the children. She hadn’t come home by 8:00 p.m.

Finally, at 10:56 p.m., she walked in the door. I had already put the children to bed and was playing video games. I got up and kissed her when she came in, but I didn’t say anything to her about her absence.

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