Dear Blake,
My niece, “Elle,” and her husband, “Liam,” have been self-employed for 20 years, but due to the economy, Liam decided to go into the workforce. He is now employed at a state job with great pay and benefits for them and their four children.
Our family is elated for him and his family, except Elle. It’s unbelievable how determined she is to get her husband fired. She can’t stand for Liam to be away from her. She fights daily with him, telling him he has “chosen a job over his family.” They were always a nice family unit, but now Elle is destroying it because of the insecure, overbearing control she needs to have. It’s heartbreaking to see, especially since their teenage kids are looking for other places to sleep due to the constant arguments.
I wish I could make Elle understand that this job means they will no longer be struggling financially, but she doesn’t care. She wants to be near Liam at all times. The situation is awful. I can’t believe they may end up in divorce court because her husband got a great state job. Your thoughts on this, please?
Signed, Rosie
From Boise, Idaho
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Dear Rosie,
I’d like to say that it doesn’t appear that Elle is playing with a full deck. But in her case, at least 26 cards are missing. So, here are some of my suggestions to change her twisted perspective. Because her husband gets excellent medical coverage, remind her that every time someone in the family gets sick, without the state job they’ll have to sell some of their furniture to cover the cost of the required life-saving prescription medication. Or, for him to tell her that he wants to financially take care of his kids, which will be through mandatory child-support… after leaves her. Or this idea. Have her teenagers ask her why did she marry their father, since she appears to be more attracted to lazy, wimpy, worthless, bums. And finally, this idea. Tell her that she can acquire a lot of money if she becomes and immediate organ donor, and she should get a pretty good price for her brain, since apparently it has hardly been used. I hope this helps.
Blake