The telling

I will tell about the garage doors a few posts from now. I forgot to write about a very crucial piece of the story, which actually fits in before the new garage doors.

I need to back track here a bit. Do you remember that Marinda had guessed there was someone else, and when she had asked me – I had confirmed this. The Professor was very mad about this incident. Marinda, to her credit, had not shared this information with her brother and sister. She is an awesome young lady.


The kids were still in counseling. The Prof was not much interested or involved in their counseling, except to complain about the costs involved, and to start using the counseling as a means of getting the information about the Cream Puff through to the children.

Every week he wanted to know if the counselor had told them about Cream Puff, and every week I passed the information along that she had said the kids were not ready to hear it. At one point he threatened to tell them himself.

Deciding that it would be better coming from us – myself and the counselor – where we could control the information, our hand was forced.

Unfortunately this all happened on Marielle’s birthday – a fact which she still clearly remembers and I think she still holds against us.

Now, for a second time in their lives, I was involved in telling them something awful, of which I actually wanted no part. By now the kids were much wiser and “with it.”, compared to the telling of the Prof’s departure. After the counselor had told them, Arno came running out of her rooms, to my mom, who was in the waiting room outside.

“Oma, oma – have you heard? There is ANOTHER WOMAN”, he piped up. For all the world – it had the “gossip” element to it – as though passing on a very interesting tidbit of choice information.

We then  made the arrangement that the counselor would go with the children on the first meeting – which was set for a short while thereafter.

What an awful feeling –needing to let your children go to meet (and possibly “like”) the other woman. Who in their right mind lets their children go to meet “the affair”. How could the Professor be doing this to his children? It was as though he was "proud" of the situation and could not wait to introduce Cream Puff to them. All these thoughts were going through my head. There are no books and no conventional wisdom – to help you deal with these situations.

My biggest concern was over the emotional well being of the kids – and for that reason – the counselor was going with. This was a small consolation.