The 2 Faces of a Preacher's Wife

When I realized that Diane was seeing another woman I felt myself slipping into a depression. I had recently buried my mother and had not fully recovered from that loss when now I’m faced with losing my relationship with Diane and everything we worked so hard to build together. The sound of my children playing irritated me that evening, but it wasn’t their fault. They had nothing to do with what I was going through. Besides, it wasn’t their fault I chose to live an alternative lifestyle, leaving my ex-husband and God behind. This was my choice alone, now I’m experiencing the consequences. I started calling Diane around 10:30 pm. She had been gone since 7:00. After four or five attempts, I slammed the phone down in a fury. I put the kids to bed and went to work. It’s amazing what a person can do when driven by anger, jealousy, frustration and adrenaline. For the next hour and a half, I toted Diane’s belongings to the curb in front of the house, one by one. I piled all her things on the corner of 14th and Garrison Avenue, stacked high for all the neighbors to see as they drove by careening their nosy, busy body necks. I called Diane again around midnight, this time she answered because she had listened to my message about her things on the curb. “Where are you, what are you doing and who are you with, Diane?” I asked through tears. “Why are you doing this?” I demanded. “I’m done, Tina, we’re done. I’m tired of fighting with you every other day, things have changed between us and we have started growing apart. We’ve been in trouble for a while and you know it. I knew things were going to change after your mother’s funeral; I was just waiting for the right time to tell you. But I’m on my way home and if you have really set my things outside like you said, you’d better call the police because it’s going to get ugly.” With that she hung up the phone. I stood there holding the receiver for several minutes looking at the floor, not believing what I had just heard. A few minutes later I braced myself for the storm coming; I called the cops and told them I had been threatened and needed an officer to stand by until my friend packed all her belongings into her truck and moved away. When Diane arrived, the other woman was actually with her, sitting on the passenger side. I knew for sure I was going to be arrested that night and charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon. I grabbed my heavy-duty hammer that I’d help build my own freakin’ house with and headed out the front door about to crush some skulls, and walked right into two police officers who had just arrived on the scene. The feelings of grief at the recent loss of my mother intertwined with feelings of betrayal at the loss of my trust for Diane was just too much for me. At that moment I understood clearly how a person could SNAP and suffer from temporary insanity. Too much pressure will make anything POP! The officers talked calmly to me and told me to let Diane get her things and move on. Obviously she wanted to be with this other woman, so just let her go, one of the officers said. I stood on the front porch foaming at the mouth while Diane and her new friend loaded the bed of her truck with her things. No one said a word and thirty minutes later they were riding off into the night. The cops asked me if I was alright and if there was anything else I needed. I said, “No but thank you both for coming by.” The black police officer told me to go inside and drink some warm tea and call it a night. He said, I’ll think and function better after a good night’s rest. I told the officers thank you again as they walked to their patrol car making small talk. They’re probably making fun of me, I thought with slumped shoulders and tear stained cheeks. I’m sure I look like a fool standing here all alone. When they drove off I paced the small porch back and forth then walked into the front lawn which looked like a Toys R Us display room. I kicked the jungle gym and turned over thousands of dollars worth of equipment which had become our tiny empire. My blood boiled inside my veins and a murderous tension headache crept up the back of my neck and clawed its way to the top of my head until I exploded with screams and tears and swears at what my life had become all because I had walked away from my one true love. God.