A cautionary tale for every middle-aged man: part 9

As this blog continues, I will explain how a split decision in one moment of anger has turned into a lifetime of regret. Of how I went from a harried existence of working nights, keeping a day schedule, hardly sleeping during the week, pleasing a 31-year old nympho, who really just liked variety in her men, trying to keep the kids happy, fend off an ex-wife who was constantly at war with me to someone who is sitting in prison for the rest of my life over nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I am so disappointed in myself. How and why could I let myself get sucked into a situation like this? I can honestly say I would gladly be an unhappily married man to my unsatisfying first wife without complaint had I known what I know now.

Once I got into trouble, I realized I didn't have any friends, at least no one who had been my friend over a lifetime, nor anyone from my youth. Once you go to jail, almost everyone you've ever known abandons you. They barely have time for their own busy lives, much less your troubles. Incarceration also rips the fabric of the relationships of people you know — people take sides in the conflict and when they do, they neither forget nor forgive; small slights are magnified into great offenses. I made the further mistake of not trusting my family. When all seems lost, they're the only ones who will tell you the raw truth.

The details of what happened to land me here are astonishingly straightforward, and shocking in how it all could have been avoided. More to come.