I used to read an article called ‘Can this marriage be saved?’ in one of the women’s magazines I received every week years ago. The wife cries and whines first, then the husband complains and groans, and finally the marriage counselor waves his magic wand and solves all the problems.
You are all either romance readers and/or writers. You create conflict in your stories, escalate it until it reaches a black moment and resolve all the troubles to bring a HEA ending.
May I ask you to play psychologist in a real situation?
Here are the premises:
The wife is a career woman in her late forties. Let’s make her a successful busy doctor and call her Jane.
The husband, John, early fifties, is also a doctor, less successful than his wife and earning much less money. They have two children now, a boy, 5, and a girl, 12.
They met at the hospital where they both worked, fell in love and have been married for twenty years.
Trouble started three years after their marriage when Jane miscarried her first baby and was told she needed to stay on bed-rest the whole nine months if she wanted to carry a baby to term. John was spending a lot and insisted she continued to work so they could afford his expensive car and boat.
Three years later Jane finally took a break and had their first child. They were both delighted with their baby daughter and the relationship improved for a short time. Then Jane went back to work leaving the baby all day with a nanny. Jane wanted to decrease her hours to spend time with her daughter but John lost his job.
They argued and fought. He verbally abused her and belittled her, while insisting she should work longer hours. She left home with her baby for a few days. He went after her, saying he loved her and brought them back. Eventually, he worked again, but his verbal abuse increased every day. Jane thought about divorcing and often left home to escape his abuse but he always brought her back with sweet words of love. The ups and downs continued. Jane became pregnant again and had a boy.
Jane’s complaints: John always bullies her, never helps with the children, expects her to work non-stop, but doesn’t let her handle the finances. He saves his own income in his own saving while she has to spend on the house, the children and herself. They rarely go in vacation and it has to be where John wants to go. Jane doesn’t love him anymore but when she talks about divorcing, he threatens to take their children because she doesn’t spend enough time with them and will ask for alimony because she makes more money.
On the other hand, John never abused her physically, never looked at another woman, but insists he loves and can't live without her.
Jane is a shy person with no friends. She rarely confides and feels very lonely. Recently she cut her hours to dedicate more time to her children. Her husband got very upset and increased his hours of work. After twenty years of the same life, she wants to leave him but is afraid of being on her own, afraid he would take the children and sue her for half her belonging.
Should she stay with him? How can she become more assertive? How can you help her?
Give her some advice.
OSIRIS MISSING PART.
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-9394-osiris-missing-part.aspx
