The Second Family

He was late again. This time I wasn't as mad as I usually would have been, I guess I had gotten used to it. Used to him being late or not being there at all. Used to him letting me and his kids down. Used to feeling like I was the other woman and that I wasn't loved nor needed anymore. Used to being alone.

This was the 4th time this week he had been late and even though I had gotten used to it, it still upset me. How can you even live with yourself knowing that each day you're hurting your family? How could you be so unaware of the effect you absence has on your children? Those questions had been bought up the night before and the night before that, all the way up until this whole pattern started- Two weeks ago.

I don't know why I'm still here, when I know I deserve better. So do my children. We don't deserve to be treated like the second family, like his second priority. We deserve love and security from him, not to feel distant & foreign. My daughter deserves to be his little princess again & my son deserves to be his father's "little sport". And I deserve to be happy and feel loved again.

But as the days went by, what we deserved and wanted slowly started to fade. Until there was nothing but a little speck left. I hated this so much, everything was fine, what had gone wrong? Was it something I said? Was he going through a mid-life crisis? What could possibly be happening to ruin our family? As I sat and pondered the future of this family, I heard the door close and his footsteps echoing through the hallway.