Every woman knows what it is to be shocked by her family β her husband and her children. I'm no stranger to being shocked, that's for sure.
Like when I was eavesdropping on the phone, listening to my daughter tell her friend how she'd lost her virginity the previous night to a dreadful boy who I absolutely disliked. Or, when I accidentally discovered the 'Life Like' penis shaped vibrator that was shrewdly hidden in the back of one of her drawers. Of course, I never said anything to her, but, they were shocking, none the less.
But, nothing could have prepared me for this. Not even when my husband of twenty years decided to leave me for a much younger woman in his office. Nothing over took me and affected me the way this had.
Danny was always a good boy β a model child that never got into trouble. From the pregnancy all the way up to the time he graduated from college, found a job and got married, Danny was the absolute perfect son. Family, friends and neighbors all told me what a delight he was, and how lucky I was to have such an adorable son.
He was thoughtful and kind; always excited to help me around the house, and was the first one to volunteer to help me do whatever I needed to do - even sometimes asking me to make a list of chores he could do for me. I could take him shopping with me for hours and he'd never complain while I went into every shoe store in the mall to find that perfect pair of shoes, or a new outfit. We held hands when we were out together, hugged at home every morning, and he even kissed me good night until he was in his twenties.
When his father left me, Danny came over almost every day to see me. On the days that he couldn't come by, he'd always call β even when he was on a business trip. He took me grocery shopping, out for dinner and we'd go to brunch almost every Sunday. I'm not sure how I would have gotten through those days and weeks without him.
I was happy when Danny finally found a nice girl and married her. They bought a house fifteen minutes away from mine, and it was nice seeing my son grow into a man I could be so proud of. He was a devoted husband to her, but, just a year into their marriage, they were divorced, sighting irreconcilable differences. I talked to both of them when Danny told me the news, but neither would go into any detail on what was going on between them, so I sat back and watched, helping him when I could, and played the part of a supportive mother.
Their divorce was the epitome of 'friendly'. I never heard Danny bad talk his wife and during the time of their divorce proceedings, they pleasantly talked together and I even saw them smile and laugh with each other. Soon, their divorce was final and Danny was on his own again. He kept the house, knuckled down at his job and within a few months, you couldn't even tell he'd been married, or, gone through a divorce.
But still, I wasn't prepared to be shocked like this. Not in a million years. Not in two million years. The revelations about my daughter's sexual experiences, my own divorce, Danny's divorce β none of it came anywhere close to the way this knocked me down and sucked the air out of my lungs.
It all started late last summer.
A weather front swept through our area spawning severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Living in the mid-west of the US meant dealing with that pretty regularly, but this storm system was especially bad. I didn't have any home damage, but, Danny called me from his business trip in Phoenix and asked me if I could drive by his house to see if it was okay. Of course, I was happy to do it.
After he called, I remembered his ex-wife had once given me a set of their house keys in case of an emergency. So, once I found them, I drove to his neighborhood and fortunately, found his house was completely untouched. There were a few branches and limbs down in their neighborhood, but, everything looked fine at his house. I parked in his driveway and looked around the sides of the yard, and through the fence boards into the back yard β everything looked good.
As I headed back to my car, I felt the need to use the restroom. Since I had his keys and I knew he wouldn't mind, I didn't think twice about unlocking the door and using his bathroom. What I found when I opened the door was a bit of a surprise β his house was a mess. His kitchen looked like a collection of trash bags and empty frozen dinner trays. The refrigerator was bare except for a case of beer and an old jug of milk, and as I stood in the middle of his kitchen shaking my head, I got the feeling he could use some help..... maybe I'd surprise him by cleaning up his kitchen, vacuuming the house and doing some dusting. He wouldn't be back from Phoenix for another two days, and I didn't have anything better to do.
So, smiling to myself at my great idea, I locked his house and got back in my car. I made a mental note of the cleaning supplies I'd gather at my house β rubber gloves, a bucket, a broom, mop, and so on, and then I'd come back and clean his house from top to bottom and he'd be surprised, and grateful, when he got home from his business trip.
On the way home, I called him on my cell phone and told him his house was fine β no damage and no broken glass as far as I could tell.
"You didn't go in, did you?" Danny asked.
"No." I said, smiling to myself knowing he was probably ashamed of his housekeeping, and I surely didn't want to spoil my surprise. "I didn't have time." I replied. "It looks fine from the outside, though."
He thanked me and told me his trip was going good. He was pretty sure he'd be home late Thursday night, which would give me all of today and tomorrow to get his house in order β plenty of time.
I snickered to myself once we hung up. I couldn't believe how clever I was. And, I felt good about what I was doing for him β after all the things he'd done for me, I was going to get a chance to do something nice for him, and I was excited about tearing into his house and going through it like a cleaning whirlwind.
I spent a couple of hours at my house getting everything I needed and changing into clothes I could clean in. I even grabbed an extra set of clothes and some personal items so I could shower, or even stay the night, depending on what I found upstairs and in his bathrooms. I could just see myself stripped down to my underwear, sweating like a pig as I cleaned mold and grime out of his showers, and I was mentally prepared for it. The trunk of my car was filled with everything I needed to totally attack his home, and when I was done, it would sparkle and shine just like it did when he was married. Most importantly, my son's house would be clean again.