Nobody takes their first drink with the intent to become an alcoholic. The desire to throw away your future career, your future marriage, or your future family doesn’t cross your mind as the bottle hits your lips for the first time.

You’ve been told that it’s fun. It’s a part of growing up. It’s just what people do.

When a stone is thrown into the water, the ripple begins. If anything is near the rock when it breaks the surface, it’s effected. This is not something that is mind blowing.

We’ve all done it. We grab a rock. We throw it in the water. We watch the splash. We see the ripple.

I never intended to hurt Shayla that day. We had been through too much for me to hurt her like I had before. We had overcome the unthinkable in a marriage.

We had overcome an affair just 16 months prior. I never wanted to see her hurt like that again.

20 years is a long time. Think back to what you were doing 20 years ago. Some of you reading this were not even born yet. Others can remember 20 years ago like it was 20 minutes ago.

For us, we were getting married 20 years ago today.

During this week 13 years ago, the darkness was so dark that no glimpse of light was to be found. During this week 13 years ago, the pain was so real that it was difficult to breathe. During this week 13 years ago, we both desperately wanted the hurt to disappear.

Our marriage was over 13 years ago this week.