A New Path - I just left my wife

[tpc1977]

I was asked to take someone's place at one of the toughest races in my area. He was injured and couldn't go. I lost the chance months before because of money and time. When I approached my wife about it she encouraged me emphatically to do it because it's something I've been wanting to do - and apparently she wanted the alone time.

The race was in the mountains. It was over 100 miles with about 11,000 feet of climbing. And if anyone has ever tried pedaling a bike up a 20% grade then you know doing it over and over and over can make you question your insanity.

In the end I got 7th place out of over 500 participants. Even though the placing was great I wanted to quit riding a bike halfway through when climbing a particular mountain. It was horrible.

Then it got worse for me. My wife was suppose to pick me up when I got home. I rode with a friend. I couldn't get in touch with her. Why? Well she was seeing her "friend" at the park. How did I find out. My friend had to take me home. I was ticked off pretty bad. When my wife got home she told me she never got the calls. With the way I've been lately I just said, Ok and moved on.

We were going out to eat and then going to shop for our oldest daughter's (my step-daughter) birthday. It was the next day. Our youngest girl (my biological) was with us and she was having a great time hanging out with us. Earlier however I was calling her to see if she could get in touch with my wife. She couldn't either. But during dinner after my wife was getting the race report out of me, my daughter said something like, "Mom, I tried calling So-And-So (the lady she was supposedly with) and she didn't know where you were. Daddy, asked me to try and get a hold of you because he was close to home and I had her number so I tried calling."

My meal was over. I tried like heck to keep a good attitude during the meal. But I felt this wash of emotions come over me that I had never felt before. My body hummed and it felt like I was in a tin can closed off. This was it. I've told my wife that if I find out she was seeing him ever again, even in friendship, I was leaving.

We left the restaurant and I was driving in silence. My wife was occupied with something and talking to our little girl. Looking back I'd have to say my wife remained pretty calm.

It wasn't long before we were at the store we were going to shop at. I told our youngest to go look at some stuff for herself. I then went up to my wife and said, "Enough with the lies. Isn't it tough to try and cover your tracks and keep this story up? Haven't you had enough?" She denied it at first. Then I got more in her face. "The TRUTH!" She looked at me and asked me to get out of the isle and to quit making a scene. I moved over and said it again. "THE TRUTH! Where were you?"

"Fine. I was with him."

"Him who?"

"The same guy."

"Where?"

"At the park" The conversation went on a little bit more. Then I gathered myself and ...

(I need to leave for a bit. I'll tell you more later.)