What goes around

She was always dressed in the best clothing and had diamonds on her fingers. It was all because of him. The neighbors stood in awe of the tall handsome man with the fancy car and the 1o gallon hat who came to visit. Even the teenage girls spoke of how handsome he was, He took her on trips across the country and gave expensive presents to her 3 children. He was polite to her mother and her aunt and cousins thought the world of him. Her home and photo albums were filled with his pictures. The children pondered how he seemed like a possible choice one day to be a great stepdad,

Her teenage daughter thought he was cute and that her mother was lucky. Both of her sons thought he was cool. All the friends and family seemed to like him and he spent a lot of time with her. They complimented each other with her light high yellow complexion and his deep brown hue and they seemed like an ideal couple. There was never any clue that something very disturbing was going on until a decade later and it shook one of her children to the core.

They had been together for about 10 years when one day she was visiting her daughter and asked for a phone book. She dialed a number then asked her daughter "You know he's married don't you?" She then gave her son in law the phone and asked if he would find out if he was home. In time, it was revealed that he had been married for decades and had 4 children with his wife. Her daughter was shocked that this man had spent so much time and money on her family when he had one of his own.

The trips, the clothing, and being in public as if the wife did not matter astounded her. The time he spent with her children was taking him away from her own. The photo's her mothers displayed as if she did not even care about the wife. It left a bad taste in the daughter's mouth and one day she found herself on the other side of the coin.

About 5 years later the son in law cheated on her daughter and she was very critical. She did not like the fact that he was seen in public with the other woman even though she had done the same. The daughter spent nights alone when her spouse was out on the town or out of town with the other woman, just as her mother had done with him.

One night when the husband did not come home the outraged daughter went to the girlfriend's apartment to confront them, The first thing she saw when the door opened was a photo of her husband and the mistress. What her mother had done to another wife and come back on her. That image haunts the daughter to this day and she considers that the other wife, as well as many others, have felt the same. Karma strikes where and how it chooses. Adultery is not the answer to anything and causes harm to the innocent.

Years later when the affair was over, the mother was hospitalized in another city for cancer treatment. The daughter was surprised when he came knocking on the door. He wanted details of the illness and said he was going to visit her the following day. The daughter complied but her mind went to the wife that he had left yet again for her.

During the time he cheated with her, there was a younger woman who gave birth to his child. He was a serial cheater and faithful to no one but she bore him no ill will. She had her own serial cheating husband to deal with. She thought of the saying that the sins of the parents fall on their children and in that moment she knew it was more than a proverb. It was real and she was living proof. She also knew that like his wife, she would honor her vows of for better or for worse.

Years later she read in the paper that his wife died and they were living in another town. When he died she could not even send condolences. Over the years she had met 2 of his children but they did not know her connection. She wondered if they knew about her mother. Her own husband had taken their son to play with the children of one of his mistresses. They were preschool age but later as teens, the girl threw it up in his face that his dad had been with her mom. The daughter wanted to express her sympathy when he died but thought it inappropriate because of all that had gone on before.