Marriage is a car... Driving along smoothly, sometimes the wife is at the wheel, sometimes it is the husband. Whoever isn't driving navigates, but trust is mutual, one is trusted to drive safe, the other is trusted not send the car off course or in a ditch. Sometimes communication isn't good and the car tends to take the long way or a dangerous shortcut, but they always get it back on track. They take care of it, take it in for maintenance...

But that doesn't help when disaster hits. The driver, for some reason or other is distracted, could be because the navigator hasn't listened, has neglected the driver's needs or perhaps because he's just sick of driving and feeling tired. The navigator is too focused on the map and the outward appearance of the car to really truly focus on the driver and the road.

Infidelity is a semi truck that, comes up behind the car, bumps into their fender, obviously lacking brakes. Due to this fender bender the driver hits his head, unexpectedly, unconscious, slumped over the steering wheel. Nothing the navigator does will wake him up. She slaps him, pleads with him, reminds him that they aren't alone, reminds him of the children in the backseat, of the trailer they are pulling full of family and friends. She sees the semi truck, crazy out of control truck, swerve around, coming right for them. The navigator pulls and yanks on the steering wheel, trying to get the car, the family out of harms way, but the driver won't budge, he's out. She screams at the driver, the children scream, the family and friends in the trailer, upon hearing the noise catch sight of the semi truck and scream. Wake up! Wake up!

By having friends and family see the semi, see the trouble the car was in, by putting in their voices, the hope is that they might finally, successfully wake up the driver.

But it's not working and the navigator can't turn the wheel. So, she has a choice to make. Stay in the car, never abandoning the driver. Though while he refuses to wake up he can't keep them safe, protect them, return their love or care for them, she, and the children, could stay, and be crushed by the semi. Or she could throw herself and her babies from a moving car. There will be scrapes and bruises, broken limbs, maybe a lifelong spine or brain injury, but they will not be crushed.

There's not much time, the semi is getting closer... What will the navigator do? Can she drag the driver unconscious to safety? Will the driver wake up, quickly driving the car to safety, doing whatever it takes to protect the navigator, the family? Will the friends, ALL of them, scream for him to wake up? If the navigator saves herself and the children, what will happen to the driver? Will he survive, be in the hospital, getting healed, where his family are eagerly waiting for him? Or will he be crushed, completely by the semi?

I would suggest a few mechanical changes in this analogy; there is no approaching semi, there are several passing semis. The big trucks are not infidelity, they are simply the opposite sex.

A safe driver knows to respect the semi, and keep their distance.


Infidelity is a drunk driver, no longer respecting the rules of the road, no longer maintining safe driving boundaries. The semis are no longer a threat, but a thrill.

The marital car? Not a driver and a navigator, more like a driver's ed car; 2 steering wheels, 2 sets of peddles - if those wheels and peddles are not coordinated, the car will crash.

Awesome, I knew it didn't quite add up, but I was close. Such a great correction!