The fourth first step
Eight years ago this month, I began the last journey I thought I'd ever find myself making. It began when I decided to end my marriage. What had been a comparatively quiet and drama-free life both before I got married and during the marriage itself was now the battleground of a moral and spiritual crisis. My wife and I weren't really happy in the marriage, but our religious inclinations initially prevented us from seeking the only solution that common sense seemed to be telling us: divorce. After months of struggling with a lot of hard, big feelings that I didn't understand, I decided to rip off the bandage and embrace that bitter, forbidden destiny. As I predicted when I made that choice, all hell broke loose. My parents sided with my wife, most of our friends sided with her, and I was left alone in an apartment I couldn't afford by myself. Of course, we were also expecting our first child at the time of this separation, so that only added to public disdain for yours ...