Love is Also a Four Letter Word

I was awoken this morning by my youngest, Jessica. She was hopping up and down on my stomach saying "We're going to Mrs. Lori's house." This I knew. My wife had been making plans to do this for a few weeks. Then Jessie said, "We're going to have a sleepover."

This I did not know.

Mrs. Lori is a longtime friend of my wife's. Mrs. Lori, as my wife has mentioned several times before likes her drink. And, as I will condense the stories my wife has told me, Mrs. Lori tends to get a little ...um, how do I put this. Mrs. Lori has a thing for men I guess would be the delicate way of saying it. Mrs. Lori is also married.

Lori lives in central Virginia. It's about a 3 hour drive from my house to hers. I know this because I've been to her house once. A couple years ago I did some design work for her and her husband's travel magazine. I drove to their house for a meeting to discuss ideas and such. Before I left home my wife warned me that Lori may try to hit on me. No big deal, nothing I haven't dealt with before. I get there, her husband's there, we talk for a couple hours then I leave. Of course when I get home my wife asks the two questions that had to be asked by a wife. Was Lori drinking and did she hit on you. I replied yes to one and no to the other.

So right now, as I am sitting in this house by myself I have two issues. The first being the total lack of respect from my wife not telling me of her plans with our children. The second, my concern that my wife would not act in the best interests of my children. After I loaded my kids into the car and closed the doors, I said to my wife who was finishing her cigarette, "The next time you plan on taking the kids anywhere overnight you will tell me first." She says, "Oh, I'm not sure we're going to spend the night." But as she had packed everything for an overnight trip, the idea of it was there and as such should have been discussed with me first. The next thing I said was this, "You will be with the children the entire time. You will not leave them with anyone while you and Lori go out." Look, I don't really know these people and based on the things I do know I wasn't all on board the the whole idea of my kids leaving. However, as my wife had already built up this trip as to them as a big deal I was kinda pressed to accept it.

I take it when my wife disrespects me as a man and a husband. She has removed all her jewelry from the house, all her mail is forwarded somewhere else, she hides her purse at night. To me this is all petty BS that I turn the other cheek to. But when she disrespects me as a father, that's where the line gets drawn. Because no matter how she tries to knock me down, I deserve that respect.