A prompt response for ~ Inspiration Monday: We Come in Pieces
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CRACKED ICE
by John Yeo
It was the same every night, the conversation would haunt me, I kept going over it in my mind.
“Multifaceted, he called me! A man of many parts! What does that mean? Who is he to judge me or my makeup. I pride myself on being a unique entity; an entity that is definitely a whole unit. A very together individual!”
I exclaimed, peeved at the remark. I had interpreted as a veiled criticism. “He had been implying I was a jack of all trades, therefore a master of none.”
“Calm down Peter, he meant to say you are adaptable able to turn a new face to any part of your life at any moment.”
My wife Judy, a trained teacher, was always quick to defend another member of her profession. I had decided late in life to attend an adult education class at the local institute. I had become set in my ways and I needed a new challenge to keep my mind alive.
It started with a few drinks with my fellow students. This was the beginning of the fall down the slippery slope to ruin. I met and stupidly fell for a fellow student, Maria, I was besotted with her and this led to my wife Judy, leaving me and taking our two children with her.
The drink then began to take a firm hold and I lost my job. Maria became disillusioned and demanded I leave the flat we shared, this was in her name and I had to leave. I found myself on the streets with nowhere to go.
I then realized the hidden meaning behind the conversation that had been haunting me and the importance of the word multifaceted. My life had come to pieces. smashed to bits by my own actions.
My wife who had been a major piece of my life had left me.
I now have no contact with my children or any part of their lives.
My profession and my source of income had vanished.
My sense of self, an important part of my identity was now lost.
My home, self-respect, and self-assurance were now irretrievably gone.
Incredibly, I felt all the important aspects that made up my life were now lost forever.
We are not always aware we come in pieces unless we allow life to come to pieces.
Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
johnandmargaret1607 
Ah, very sad. I love the way you used the line at the end!