Crossroads - Part II

“Jimmy… your mom and I have to talk to you about something.” The look in his eyes broke my heart.

“You see… um… your mom and I haven’t been getting along to good lately. This happens sometimes after grown ups have been living together for a long time.”

My son was now starting to get upset but, I could tell he was still listening very attentively.

I had to continue even though my heart was breaking and I knew my words were breaking my sons heart as well.

“We have decided to live apart for a while to see if that helps the situation. I’m going to move out and get my own apartment. I want you to come with me today to the area that I’m looking to move to and help your dad find a new place to live.

“Even though I won’t be living here, I’ll continue to see you every weekend. You’ll live with your mom during the week. You’ll come up and see me on the weekends.”

He was now crying.

My soon to be ex-wife was then attempting to console him while she was preparing a small suitcase for him for the weekend.

That first ride up to the Albany area was a rough one. For the first twenty minutes or so, he sat pretty quietly. I think was trying to stifle the tears and to possibly formulate questions. I encouraged him to ask me anything he’d like but, I said a lot of what was going to transpire in the coming months was going to be a work in progress. I wasn’t even sure how this would actually play out.

I wanted to be as honest with my son as I thought he could take.

We looked at two apartment complexes that day before returning to the corporate suite that was currently serving as my temporary base of operations. I was lucky that my current employer was gracious enough to let me stay here for a month until I could complete the move from downstate.

The following day we checked out a couple of other apartments before we had to return for my son to begin his first week without me living at home.

On that return trip, my son had screwed up his nerve to ask me how long this trial separation was supposed to last.

I answered in the most honest fashion I could.

“We don’t know. Right now, we are just setting things up. It’s likely going to take some time before we are able to make any decisions.”