He was a man with core values and morals, we were together for 19 years and met in the summer of 1989. He was in the military and volunteered to go to Saudi Arabia, Operation Desert Storm in mid 1990 for nine months returning in August of 1991. Upon his return, we lived together, and had our first daughter in 1992 and our second daughter in 1997 and finally, we were married in 1998. Although he asked me to marry him as soon as he returned from Desert Storm, I was not ready, I came from a divorced family and was cautious. He had my biological dad's first name and I had my mother's first name. I thought to myself, this is too weird. I wanted to take my time and enjoy our relationship, I know he took it to offense that I was not ready to marry him but he was willing to wait and I was grateful for his patience. During our time together with our children he was initially a stay home dad, he was a good dad. His children was his life but as time went on, he developed a sense of anger, and sadly, I could never figure it out. I wanted to save him but little did I know that my actions, my successes, my motivation contributed to him distancing himself from us, but I wasn't the only one contributing to his distant behaviors.
As time past, he began criticizing those who were different. He criticized people who made and stayed in their let's say unhealthy choices in their lives such as, his youngest brother, Edwin, who was once upon a time in a street gang. Edwin always looked up to him. He'd come over to the apartment and shared stories about the mischievous behaviors he and his friends displayed around the community, hanging out and making noise so people knew who he and his boys were. Edwin would talk about the experiences he had with women he would say, "Yo, I hit some serious skins boooooy!" I would laugh because he was such a dork and that's how he always decribed having sex with some chick. Nevertheless, he was a sweet kid and I loved him. His stories may have not been appropriate nor would I usually engage in such a conversation that entailed titi's and ass but he was my brother-in-law at the time and I knew that his stories was also an attempt to gain the attention from his oldest brother. Trying to impress us with potraying himself as being this "Mac Daddy" while trying to connect with his brother in do things with him, like fishing or do side jobs that entailed flooring. His brother was trying so hard to capture his attention. "Come on bro! you ain't doing shit here!" We'll have a couple of beers and hang out but the job is hard yo, Miranda won't mind? Right Miranda?" I said "No, as long as those hootchie mamas you hang out with wont be there! anyway, he needs to get out of the house, so I can cook and clean!" go babe, hang out with your brother." My brother-in-law hugged me and whispered in my ear, "You know he's lucky to have you and he doesn't even know it.' I slapted his arm and shouted "shut up!" and we both smiled looking at his brother, his brother scratched and nodded his head and said Nahhhh.... next time bro, next time." His brother and I looked at each other and smiled again but with a sort of, it was a good try look. Edwin never gave up on trying to win his brother's heart, he's like me, a fighter, we had faith that this man we loved will soon wake up and love us as much as we loved him. We were patient and seeing the gleam in Edwin's eyes each time he attempted to communicate and engage his oldest brother. it was almost kind of sad as I knew how his brother really thought of him. Nevertheless, his disappointments of Edwin's lifestyle and others he disapproved of were uncaring and sometimes shameful. He criticized Edwin for who he was and the type of women he was seeing, he criticized these women because they had tattoos and he would call them a whore, he critized men that left their wives at home while gallavanting with other women and never being there for their children, he criticized me when I would take a day off from one of my jobs to stay home with my family, he criticized my cooking, he criticized all those types of judgmental characteristics that ironically, he now embraces in his life including embracing one of Edwin's past tricks, (a manipulative woman) she had relations with his niece's girlfriend's brother, and one of my family members. I definitely feel that since she was a previous friend where she trusted me with her dirt and her life secrets, was the secretary in an agency I worked for several years, my daughters would come to my job and help her organize, teach her to answer the phone, she met my ex-husband twice who specifically told me that she looked like ghetto trash, then getting together with him and sharing her biggest secret of embezzlement but playing the victim of her calculated life errors, hmmmm..... I have to laugh, and there is so much more that it is sooo yummy, but I won't, I will let God handle the rest. However, I can't help but to give her some credit for the chaos my daughters and I went through a couple of years ago. My ex was the greatest teacher in warning me about people like her. Funny how life is, one becomes exactly what one speaks ill of. Thats why it is said that the mouth is the biggest brujeria. What he considered trash has become part of his life, in addition to, me knowing her secrets and the lies he spreaded about me was the way they formed there bond and vindication, he immediately became her protector and with a dose of his own feelings of self disappointments, together they formed an unnecessary war and my daughters and I were the targets.
Listen, my anger was not that he moved on or changed his life but it was how his changes brought darkness into our lives. Impulsiveness dictated his decisions resulting in lying, manifesting into vindictive behaviors, extended foul language towards me and our girls. His absence from his daughters and almost immediate protection of a woman he just met was unbelievable. I knew this woman and I knew her history including her dealings with brujeria. This man went missing for weeks then when he thought of his girls, I would automatically get a call from a lawyer, harassing me to allow him to see his girls. I was in awe that before my very eyes, this man was manifesting into a man That I could not believe was related to my daughters. His abusive language was scaring my girls, scaring all of us. His ill behaviors mimicked regression, aggression, unacceptable selfish impulses made by a man who disguised himself of being someone my daughters and I never knew existed. Come to think of it, or did we? Nevertheless, being divorced to a man that recreated himself affected our daughters and I to the point of mental and physical destruction. He was a storm, a storm I call Mayhem.
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