Chapter 23 - My Marriage Gets Tested Too
Aaron had been away when everything happened.
That created guilt.
He returned determined never to leave again.
At first, I loved the promise.
Then I realized it was another extreme.
“You have work.”
“I can change projects.”
“I don’t need you geographically attached to me forever.”
“I should have been there.”
“You didn’t cause this.”
“I’m your husband.”
“So?”
He looked offended.
I laughed.
Then explained.
“Marriage doesn’t mean one of us prevents every bad thing from happening to the other.”
We went to counseling.
Not because our marriage was failing.
Because trauma can turn care into control if nobody watches carefully.
Aaron learned to ask:
“Do you want me to come?”
Instead of:
“I’m coming.”
I learned to say yes without feeling weak.
May you like
And no without preparing a legal defense.
That was marriage becoming safer after my family taught me how unsafe love could become when entitlement wears its clothes.
