Southern Man

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

A New Blog

Why am I starting this blog?

A few weeks before our sixteenth anniversary, my wife told me that she was going to seek a divorce. A month later, I find myself with a new address and a new lifestyle. After work I must face the deadly silence of an empty rental instead of the cheerful chaos of a bustling home filled with the sounds of the wife and children I love. I'm finally beginning to understand the history of our troubled marriage (both her version and mine - but without much finger-pointing, as there's plenty of blame to hang on each of us) and trying to acknowledge my failures (both past and present) as a husband and father. I'm searching for ways to maintain (and in at least one case rebuild) a lasting and loving relationship with my children, and I'm trying to reconnect with friends and family that I've neglected or ignored for far too long. I'm reflecting on the loss of all that we built together over the last sixteen years and the dreams we had for the future, and striving for optimism as I begin to forge a new life and new dreams. I'm trying to learn how to be the best ex-husband and non-custodial father that I can be.

So, this blog is therapy - an outlet that lets me voice frustrations and fears and uncertainies as I and my family work our way through the agonies and challenges that come with divorce and a broken home. Like many others, this blog will surely also become a collection of opinions and commentary - on music, on politics, on religion, on life in the South, on whatever. I'll no doubt post all sorts of random nonsense; you'll eventually find everything from recipes for men (my current diet of canned chili and beans is quite a change after living for sixteen years with the best country cook in the state) to the tale of last weekend when one of our big rockets got sideways and started a brush fire on the other side of the lake. But at least at first, this is the story of a man and a family thrust into a situation they didn't want (no one really wants divorce) and how he (and they) deal with it - and hopefully how we all come out on the other side.

Welcome to Southern Man.

3 Comments:

At Wednesday, July 05, 2006, Blogger me said...

i wish you the best in your journey.... i hope this this blog helps you through your troubles and opens up a new world for you!

 
At Wednesday, August 30, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Southern Man. Just read a few of your installments. I went through my untimely/unwanted divorce by journaling in a book. Not knowing much about blogging, I know now, I could have done this too! Wow, earth to J. There's a concept. The thing is, I type much more quickly than I write, so this would have definately been an advantage. Good luck to you S.M. I sense that you are going to be just fine.

 
At Saturday, April 02, 2011, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm reading this 5 years late, but I hope that you are coping/have coped with your divorce and the change it has brought.

 

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