A few blogs back I joked about the “seven-year itch” and how marriage takes work. Ironically, since then infidelity has struck my family. The good news is that this bout of unfaithfulness wasn’t my husband’s or mine. But unfortunately it’s doing some damage that feels irreparable. I come from a family that has always been pretty private. Now I’ve chosen an outlet for expression that is very public. Talk about irony. The gist of it is this: my dad is leaving my mother for another woman. There, I said it now lots of people know. I used to believe that these things happened to other people in other families but not in mine. How naïve. But isn’t that what people think when it comes to cancer, accidents, and loss in general? They think, “not in my family”. We almost believe that we are untouchable and somehow removed from bad things happening, that is until they happen.

What’s been hardest in dealing with this news is showing up to my children and my husband while grieving and preparing for changes yet to come.  My daughter saw me crying this morning and asked me if I bumped my head. I told her “yes”, because I knew she understood head bumping, which then prompted her to tell me that it would be okay. That made me smile and for the moment I was able to go on and continue making the kids breakfast. Kids are so innocent and sweet. I’m so grateful to have little children in my life to make me smile. They can also make me crazy, which is something I need to be careful of because when I’m not 100% on my game due to emotional strain it’s easy to take things out on others. Just this week, I’ve cried over spilt milk (literally) and yelled at the dog (thankfully, I didn’t kick her).

So today I’ve gone about my day and made sure the beds were made, food was prepared, children cared for, and the dishes were done. Having work to do makes sitting and thinking about what is going on in my family harder to do. I also take comfort in the fact that I can’t give up on my little family and that if I fell apart it would only make matters worse. I can exercise some control over my environment by trying to remain positive in front of my kids. I’m not always perfect at that and I’m reminding myself to relax and take it easy when I can or else I just might kick the dog.

As I get older, I’m learning that every family has issues and while I am doing all I can to raise healthy, happy children, stuff still happens. To not talk about things as they come up, whether those things be spilling water over your child’s head in a fit of rage or dealing with the aftermath of a parent’s devastating decision, does not make them go away. We all have dirty laundry and if talking about it helps heal the soul then I’m grateful to have a venue to do that in and a group of supporters who read on. So let the healing begin.