A sad story

I have a couple who are friends that I know are heading down a one way road to the abyss. You see them bickering at each other about everything. Every single issue becomes a reason for argument, regardless of the importance.
I’ve known them for a very long time, and it is very sad to see them in this state. I remember when they started dating, they loved being together, even if it meant not going getting together with other friends. They loved doing everything together. They used to walk back from work so that they could spend more time. It looked like 24 hours in a day wasn’t enough time for them to spend together. They shared the same taste for travel, music.
They went through many hurdles but there was always this sense of unity.
But then fate would have it. They were faced with their biggest test. They had a child with a disability.
I know what it means because I have a son with autism, so I know how life puts you to a test. Their son had cerebral pulsy.
And this test that they were faced with would challenge their faith, they belief in each other and primarily their love.
Both of them are professionals but nothing that they had studied in school would prepare them for this.
And the great wall starting cracking. They disagreed about how to raise that child, how to deal with his disability, how he should behave in public, where to go on vacation, etc.
And all of this starting taking its toll on both of them. Their love starting fading away, it didn’t just happen overnight of course. Like everything in life, it was a progression. Their disagreements became more intense. She sought a marriage counselor. It did not work out. It was just a time to disagree with a referee, instead of finding a way of communicating better.
Their lack of communication became silence. They spent less and less time together. When they tried spending some time alone it was just as bad.
Many times in life we put our interests ahead, even if it means hurting somebody else. I consider myself a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, and if there is something that I can take with me from his teachings is that he laid his life for others. He always put others first.
We are all selfish, the temptation of looking out for our own interests first is something we wrestle with during most of our lives.
When talking with my friend he would go as far as to tell me that their moments of intimacy were very infrequent, if none, and that they were something that he would rather forget. I asked him if that was the way it always was and he said no, that when things were good their sex life was something special, something that both felt good about.
I asked him if he was contemplating leaving his house, and he said that he had thought about many times in the past, but that the only reason he had stayed was because of that child. He felt responsible. The one thing I do remember that he said was that he had tried to bend backwards, forwards and sideways for the marriage to work, but that it had not made a difference.
Time will tell how long they will be able to live under the same roof.
We live in a day and age where people are only focused on their own needs, that’s why marriages end up failing.