What caused a decades-long, stable marriage to end out of nowhere.

Had to watch my parents go through the paperwork to get divorced after my dad had a massive stroke

and was forced to retire. It was the only way for them to keep the money from his pension

and maintain his health insurance coverage. My parents got a divorce of convenience so that

Pops could make the mortgage payments and get his insulin.

Thankfully, my parents' insurance agent is a close friend and found every possible form and loophole

so that they could stay in the house together. It took almost two years to get everything settled.

I'll never forget my dad's statement after it was all done. The church says we're still married,

and that's what matters to us.

At least now your mother can still get her hearing aids and pay the mortgage if something happens to

me. I was so disgusted with it all. I never forgave my dad's union for it and we now make sure

someone from our family shows up to their annual open meeting when they discuss the health insurance

plan to shame them in explicit detail with how the board screws over the

roughnecks. You know, my husband tried to kill me, which I feel is impolite.

23 years. I'd lied to her several times over the years, and she always forgave me. The last time,

I lied to her about accruing a severe amount of debt due to a gambling addiction. I think she might have forgiven the lie, but she couldn't forgive the addiction and the chance that I'd start gambling again. I started attending gamblers anonymous after I told her, but it was too little too late. On the plus side, I haven't gambled for almost three years now. It was a struggle at first, but it gets easier as long as I

take it one day at a time. I've made some amazing friends in my local recovery community,

and I run a meeting once a week to help others that are suffering. There's a guy in my town

that everyone knows about because he owns this huge mansion in a middle-class neighborhood.

Apparently, he was married to a woman for a long time,

but she left him, calling him a loser because his business hadn't taken off yet. After she left him,

his business finally took off. He sells medical equipment to hospitals, and he became F-U levels of

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