Dodged a Bullet

June was a single woman who lost her husband to her disease. In all fairness, June had not told her husband that she made out with another guy once when they were still dating.

June later discovered that she was bipolar. She went through three hospitalizations to attempt to get the disease under control. However, when she told her husband what she had done when they were still dating, he didn’t forgive her.

Blame Shifting

He went on about how he did not know her at all anymore. That she spent a decade lying to him. It was hurtful to June though because her erratic behavior was partly due to her disease.

Her husband Jim could not accept that his wife was ill and that her behavior was led by her episodes. June and Jim were high school sweethearts who liked the idea that even their names contained alliteration.

June was devastated by their divorce, but also felt relief. Jim liked to hang out with guys that liked to drink. His friends could be vicious critics. Jim seemed to care more about their opinion than hers. It felt like to her that she was just some piece of arm candy for Jim.

Jim derived a lot of his identity from giving the illusion of perfection. He always wanted to be perceived as someone who made a lot of money. And when he did start making the money, he expected her to also keep up. That meant that June also had to have her own career so that he could feel like they were intellectual equals.

June used to hide her alcohol binges from Jim because he didn’t like her drinking too much in front of people when he was around. But that all stopped when June was diagnosed. She spent many years getting her meds so she could actually function where Jim was just not around to make her feel small. Her self-esteem actually improved when she got help for her troubling episodes.

Denial

Jim wanted to make up for lost time, in the meantime, and found himself a new girlfriend quickly after their divorce was finalized. He ended up going for his buddy’s ex wife, so he lost a friend in the process.

He moved into his girlfriend’s condo so he could save money for a vanity house for the two of them. He ended up repeating the same pattern of spending most of his time with his buddies.

Neglect

His new girlfriend Emmy felt quite neglected and still had some issues from her previous marriage. She ended up playing the perfect woman, but would go out with friends often for attention and free drinks.

One night Emmy got into a car with her friends to go home. She was trying to save money so she could buy some new designer outfits. Her friend swore she wasn’t drunk but was actually driving while intoxicated.

Emmy, while insecure, was the type of good girl that always followed the law. However, she was quite passive and just hung out with women who seemed to exude an image of confidence and called the shots.

Deadly Consequences of Drunk Driving

Emmy told her friend to look out but it was too late- they didn’t swerve enough to move out of the way of a girl crossing the road to another bar. Emmy’s friend was charged with intoxication manslaughter, a felony best left to an experienced Texas DWI lawyer.

After this, Emmy tried to help her friend by visiting her in prison. She couldn’t shake the guilt that it could have been her behind the wheel. She also broke up with Jim and stopped drinking to numb pain over choosing losers.