... I made the mistake of remarrying 1 1/2 years after George passed away. I realize now that I was working too hard on trying to "rebuild" my life...
This has been the case for me also I can say in both marriages. The first one when I was 18 and married the first girl I had steady sex with since 16 in high school. My first love if you will. In those two years I grew a lot, getting away from home and finding out I wasn't as much of a loser as I thought opened my eyes. I had hope in life and that was what I really was in love with that hope and change. My future was bright and that was a great feeling. We were not ready for marriage but she wanted to and I was afraid of losing what I percieved as my source of strength. She built me up when I really needed it and I felt obligated. that alone will not sustain a marraige. .. but why was home tough?...
My Dad was a hard man but not evil. His obsession with money had caused a load of problems in our home but I felt I took the best from who he was and he was a hard worker. I had stopped going to church at 13 because I had given up on God doing anything for me. I had prayed and prayed and asked him why I was so scared as a child.(STarting at age 6 I remember begging God for help) Why did Dad not love me and treat me like I was a problem? Calling me a baby and not even thank me for the hours of work I did every day for him. I had tons of scars and stiches from accidents useing tools I was not ready to master like a table saw with no guard that had taken off a piece of my thumb when I was twelve because I was so scared of it and told not to be a baby and the countless puncture holes in my feet as I cleaned lumber every day for him. Hand caught in beltsander almost lost thumb and of course all the stupid stuff a kid does when he tries to prove his manhood. Of course when I got hurt it was my fault and the cycle continued. I did it gladly hoping it would make him happy but nothing ever was enough. I knew that it was not the norm but accepted it as they way he was raised. The constant banter between Mom and Dad on what was appropiate for me at my age just made me feel more like a wimp. It was better to suffer silently than to hear them argue over me.
My Mom who was a strong believer assured me that I would be OK. As a boy I needed a Father who at least was fair enough to give me credit but Dad couldn't, which turned into wouldn't as his selfishness and entitlement issues ruined his life. But to me as a little child God let me down because I needed the "Action" of a loving father and not just the fear of failure which translated into rejection every time I let Dad down. It would have been better for me if Dad had just came right out and told me he hated me rather than experiance his indifferance to me as he obsessed about money, who was ripping him off, why doesn't everyone just do what he says, and why is everybody so stupid and incompetant. Dad just didn't understand about childrens capacitys. All my boys have been taught by me that good enough is never good enough but I praised even thier smallest accomplishments when they were young as they "ahem", helped me on variuos projects and work. They are well adjusted and not afraid of hard work but have nothing to prove, and thier self-worth means you better pay them fairly.
If Mom wasn't around I would have commited suicide by the time I was 16. She and others in the extended family like Dads mom stuck up for me when Dad would go to far. A little boy can have scars from that kind of stuff but it was leaving home and the support of good balanced people that made me see that my guilt issues were all a lie. Lies my father believed and perpetuated on me because his values had somehow become twisted. But to a boy who believed and was brought up to honor his father and obey and trust him to be treated like a failure by him translated to I was.
If God was the ultimate authority why did he not give me the strenghth to please my father? Why didn't he take away my pain or give me a way to do whatever it would take to make him love me? So I in frustration did not understand the gentleness of God and aquainted it to performance and through the years an active faith or study of the scriptures did not attract me because nobody prayed as much as I did or suffered humiliation when all I wanted to be was the best man I could have. The love and understanding I had for others might have come from the lessons in the scriptures I heard as a child and my extensive reading and education but action spoke louder as I swore to never hurt my Wife and children and to stand up for weak and innocent people.
Just for background I wish to say that my father was brought up to work for what he wanted and not look for charity. His Mom and dad were Baptist and Farmers, Loved and respected by the community for there heart and hard work. These were the same things I respected also as a child and still do as I taught my children to earn thier own way in life. I grew up hearing "hard work never hurt anybody" and I believe I have lived that way. I thank my Dad for teaching me that in real life performance is important its just how he went about it that was unbalenced. His brother and rest of the Family saw that Dad had issues.It took time to see that my Dad was suffering from emotional problems that I could never have fixed. By that time so many other failures in life had affected me it was expotential and I had to realize how much of a mess I had become.
When I got married at 18 Dad showed up at the wedding and asked me what I was doing when I "didn't have pot to pi$$ in"?. He didn't see that there were more important issues in life than money. But I had a plan. The AF, then colledge while there and by the time wife and I were out, carreer even if we were lifers. My wife had gotten pregnant and the orthopedic consultation for my messed up legs came back negative so the service was out. I was upset at wife because we had discussed children and I begged her to wait untill we had established an income but she stopped taking the pill just before marriage. How was I going to act to this 18 year old girl I just married when she told me she was pregnant? I sucked it up. After all I was responsible right? So I made plans to serve by doing what was right and keeping my nose to the grindstone. As terrified as I was when she told me I trusted that it would be alright as she assurred me I worried to much. Yes I worried because I didn't want work and worry to rob us of time. Which it did.
Because I was an overacheiver I could allways draw upon determination and discipline to overcome obstacles that others at my young age didn't bother with or find important.
I was managing people and in a position of authority at 19 and trying so hard to grow up and do what was right for everybody i was responsible for. Everyone saw me as one of the hardest workers they knew and I had many friends while I earned respect as I respected others. My goals were simple but they seem the most difficult for most of us to achieve.
1. Get financial stability. You can't buy love but having a roof over your head sure helps relationships. I needed to ensure the provisions for my family would be there and remembered all to well what a struggle it was without the filthy lucre. Because my first child was born when I was yet established a fear came over me that I must sacrifice now to ensure him a future later. I saw this as responsible behavior...and love,
2. Save money and get to colledge. I had a good head on my shoulders and knew that I would be able to achieve a diploma if I applied myself in school. This was also a positive sacrifice for everybodys future...and love.
All work and no play makes Sorted a dull boy. My obsession with getting ahead now took away from time with my wife but it what she signed on for when she had a child before we were ready. I was no longer the longhaired rebel idiot she met in highschool who partied like a rockstar and the weight of responsibility had made me a seriuos hardworking conservative yuppie in training. I was proud of the change and thought she was too but I ignored the signs and worked to hard until she wanted to move to where her family moved to and when she got a steady job she had an affair while I had given up a great job in trade for two min wage jobs there.......so much for I worry to much...I headed back home and she decided to come with me but on the way she told me she missed a period...she was sure it was mine.
When my first wife left me and our son and came back pregnant with another mans child it caused a great deal of pain. I dealt with it as responsible and sensitive as I could but my wife could not bond with the child when she had to accept it wasn't mine after it was born. We stayed together for 2 years after giving the child up for adoption but when her sister showed up and started driving the wedge between us and bringing drug use in. It was over. I was still trying to figure out what went wrong in the marriage. I had stepped up and was living as a responsible young man who didn't take time to feel sorry for himself or party like the rest of the disco ppl did not because I didn't like disco, disco was fun, but I was trying to be so serious and had so many hang-ups that came from all the seriuosness I had thrust upon me. I was convinced that it was my fault that I was so unhappy and felt like a total reject now.
Not that its important but I was a pretty goodlooking young man and women would comment me and tease me about it as I would blush because I was shy but it started to be a problem when I thought there must be something wrong with me. I had turned down offers from lots of women but now when i was betrayed shouldn't I take them up on it? What was wrong with me? Shouldn't I be looking for something to make me feel less emasculated? I went to a therapist and he laughed at me and said,"So you feel bad about yourself because you have morals?" I tried to go home with a woman who was 8 years older than me,(30) and could not do it. I liked her and was attracted to her but it wasn't in me.
I felt stupid ,alone.rejected and disrespected and my self-esteem was in the toilet. I did not have anyone to talk to about it and failed to see that I was just reacting the way anyone in my shoes would. Instaed of accepting or seeking pastoral counsel I dismissed that approach as I still was mad at God for not being more proactive when i was a child. If Dads Mom and Dad didn't raise him that way. If nobody was allowed to disagree with Gram at her house and grace was said at every meal as we laughed and joked about life and the sixties. If dads brother was totally different with his children and my aunt was someone I fell in love with as a little boy because she allways built me up. If when anyone talked out of anger in my Grams house Grampa would shut them down if they were out of order as honor and respect for God was held in the highest regaurd everywhere in my Family. Why did I feel like a second class citizen and never talk much when Dad was around? At home at the dinner table if I argued with my sister he waould raise his hand to backhand me causeing my Mom to cry out. I had Dad/God issues that were yet to be resolved. My wife knew about them. I thought God didn't love me if I was around so many of his people and they didn't like me either. I was still trying to earn a place in Gods heart. I failed to see that I was allready the apple of his eye.
I sent her to her Moms with our son and with the dream of being a Dad who would visit as soon as I could afford it. Agian I was still filled with guilt and anxiety and it took me 3 years to cycle through the many mistakes most young men make at the ripe old age of 24. Trying to have casual sex and relationships with no commitment and eventually realizing the best plan was to wait because I wasn't built that way. Being still poor and living from paycheck to paycheck my plan was simple but was sound. Go to colledge and take sociology as a major. Get a BA. Go to a two year Law colledge and become a civil lawyer. Serve in law enforcment as I had learned the rules are there to protect us. I wanted to help the many people that I had met in life who were bitter and reactionary who lived in cycles that destroyed thier lives. At the same time sociology classes along with psycholgy classes would help me understand my own life and what I was about. I knew one thing that I wanted to be of service to people. Work to live and in that work see I was doing my part for others. I lived by the adage "There are no small jobs just small people".
I knew feeling sorry for yourself was poison, desparation ran rampant with most people as they tried to get "thier share" or be on the winning side of life measured by societys ruler of success when ultimatly it was peoples opinions that drove them to measure up. I was soul-searching with a plan to build a career and not feel pressed to do anything else untill that was accomplished. One day when all the stuff was sorted out and I could afford to have a relationship where money was just a detail to be taken care of responsibly I could have a women who I romanced with flowers and gifts as we shared a life balanced with time spent together doing what is nessesary to keep a relationship healthy. Because of how I was built and the shape of my confidance it was the plan I needed to follow.
It was a lonely time in my life Kay but I was doing then what I am doing again now. This time I will stay the course. The situation I find myself in right now is a direct result of my not following those simple rules God had laid out for us. Sex was for marriage only and marriage only if you trust Him first for your life. I was in that place where God was calling me back to Him. I didn't run back like i should have and trust him for my life. I was realizing it was me that had a problem with Him and he had given me all the good things I ever had. I should have waited and followed my plan.
The second marriage was about the first.
My second wife was as dramatic and filled with self-doubt as I was. She heard my story on how hard I tried to do what was right in my first marriage and I heard the same about hers. We made the mistake of feeling sorry for each other. Yes there were issues we could both see were hard on both of us in our lives but throwing ourselves into a romantic relationship,(rather me making the moves on her because I thought it would bring us closer) was done way to fast and if I had been more of a gentlemen, I would have done things right. Many of the issues we sought to right in the others life were important things that we both valued. We could have just remained friends and took our time. If we did I have no doubt we would have come to respect each other better. Instead we rushed it and it took all that we had to survive as well as we did. I still haven't figured it all out and I doubt I will. It was a long rollercoaster ride with both highs and lows and for the last 10 years now it has been mostly low for me. All I can feel is the pain of rejection again and that has allways blinded me to the truth of who I am. But I am working on that and this time I will beleive God that I am worth more than I feel as I fight off all things negative that seek to bring me down. I can't say that my second wife was a mistake as much as how we got together was a mistake and terrible timing. We often wondered what was God trying to teach us? Even when my wife was sober and we were praying every day and attending church.
....HOWEVER, neither do I want to sell myself short or settle for less than I should have! So there's a balance to be struck. The main thing is taking my time, you can't be too sure! I am currently seeing someone and we are enjoying it and I'm in no hurry to change anything, we can take our time with it.
Thats very important, that you enjoy the time you have
..
Divorce and death have some similarities in that they both require adjustments on our part and getting used to being alone and doing everything on our own. They have differences in that with death you miss the person beyond belief and can't reach them...and with divorce you may or may not miss them but you recognize they weren't such a great thing for you and that helps you over them...however, the relationship may leave baggage. That CAN happen with death too if the marriage wasn't the best. Loss is loss, though, and it takes a great deal to make our way through all that it entails.
With the help of others and an open mind I am sorting it out slowly but surely. The patience and support is greatly appreciated. As you know there is no reason to rush anything now. The pressure is off, but I think sometimes I miss the pressure. The pressure of performing to earn the Grace of God that I again feel I do not deserve. But in my mind I know its a lie. This too shall pass
I wish you the best! You are here seeking answers and that is good...I have no doubt that you will make it to a happy place in life.
Thx Kay sorry for the extremely long post, guess I just needed to tell ppl who care.