The day after Christmas, I went to work since Hahna was leaving that day on a road trip. The night before, I had checked her van over, making sure the tire pressure was okay, double-checking the battery (we’d had an issue with it a few weeks earlier,) etc. At work, I went ahead and started working on filing an insurance claim with USAA for the missing jewelry and safe box. I texted Hahna that I needed to discuss some things about the claim with her and she said she was busy. Now at this point, I’d given her multiple weeks to file the insurance claim and she did not so I figured I was doing her a favor and she could take the time to discuss it with me.
I called Hahna and we spent about 15 minutes discussing the claim and then she needed to get off as the doorbell rang. I let her know before she got off that I had put a security camera in the garage as that was a possible way the cleaners or painters had taken the jewelry and stuff out of the house. She told me she would call me back but never did which wasn’t too much of a surprise at this point. I summarized what we had discussed in an email and sent it to her.
After about an hour of not hearing from Hahna, I looked at the Arlo cameras to see what was going on. I saw her car battery had died and tried to call her multiple times and see what I could do to help. She texted me that she was mad as I should have replaced it weeks ago.
Flashback – A few weeks before, I was working a little later and Hahna told me she was having issues with her battery. I left work immediately, met her and the kids at Autozone and told her she could take my vehicle home and I’d stay until we figured out what was wrong. Autozone cleaned the terminals and checked the battery and the check showed it was fine and possibly just the corrosion was the problem.
Flashforward to the present and none of that mattered. She ended up having a neighbor jump her and went and bought a new one and continued to ignore my calls.
I also noted on the camera she was taking our dog with her rather than leave him with me. When I asked her about it she said she was going to keep it at the friend’s house she was staying at in Virginia. I’d later find out this was a lie as she found a kennel on the way to Virginia and left the dog there.
I talked to a friend at work about the situation and decided I would give her space during her time away. Looking back, I wish I would have given her the space a long time before and started getting my ducks in a row as we were obviously going downhill. I decided to do something for myself so I joined an online fitness program called Fit Father, ordered a bench and some Bowflex adjustable dumbbells, protein shakes and supplements. I had always been in decent shape but thought I could focus on getting even better to get my mind off things.
Around 8 pm, Hahna texted me that she was going to get a hotel which was an afterthought and another expense she hadn’t planned for. I offered to help her find one that was pet friendly but she said she’d already found one.
Two days after Christmas, I woke up, had a phenomenal workout and felt great for the first time in weeks. I went to work and saw a guy in the lobby with our security people, shot the breeze with him briefly and then proceeded to walk towards my office. Part way there, I realized I’d missed a call from one of our security managers. I called him to see what was going on. He told me that there was someone there to serve me papers. The first thought that went through my head was that one of my employees was suing me for something as some of them tended to be sue happy. Security gave me the number of the guy and I called him and told him I’d meet him outside.
I walked back to the lobby and went outside to meet the gentleman I’d spoken to on the phone. Lo and behold, the guy that I’d shot the breeze with earlier was the guy that was giving me my papers. He told me he was really sorry and handed them to me. I opened the papers up and saw that Hahna had filed for divorce for “cruel treatment” and at that moment, my world was turned upside down. I guess divorce was an option after all.