Four cans and the future.

I remember when I found the four cans of Budweiser in the back seat of my car. I was embarrassed. You see my parents had come to spend the weekend with us in our cute, blue country cottage nestled between the hills at the end of a winding driveway. My seat had been laid down as it was a red Celica sport coupe. As I raised the seat for my dad to sit in the back....there they were. Four cans still fastened together with the plastic rings. I was humiliated. Shocked. I knew the cans were not mine, but my mind could not reason how those cans of beer had come to be in the backseat of my car. I stumbled out a few awkward words and quickly tossed the cans into the trash. My parents did not say a word as we drove to the local Shoney's to eat the famous breakfast bar. My mother always loved Shoney's and Cracker Barrel. I could feel their concern as my red car winded down the knobby roads of Union Hill. Union Hill the place where I grew up. The place where we came to live once we were married. The morning wasn't ruined. I made small talk and we enjoyed our time together. I still was trying to make sense of the four cans of beer. You see I had never even purchased a can of beer much less put it in my car. Returning home my parents packed their bags and headed back to their home. My father always had to preach on Sunday's so a weekend visit was really just a Friday night trip and half of Saturday. I remember my mother telling me that she prayed for me and my husband everyday. I knew that. She told me she wanted us to be the people God wanted us to be. My dad always cried when he left me. I waved from my country porch realizing those four cans of beer would eventually hold our future. I remember my husband had driven my car that week and then the truth became blurred. Surely, he would not be drinking. Surely not in my car. Surely, no way. Of course, when I asked him he denied the cans were his. I know now when someone you love feels they must hide the obvious truth.....there is a problem. Being young and naive...I wanted to believe my husband...but time would prove those first four cans of Budweiser hidden in my backseat were the first sign of my husband's secret....alcoholism. A secret he had hidden from parents, coaches, teachers, friends, and now me...his wife. If someone you love is hiding something....there is something seriously wrong. Lift up your backseat and see it. Ask. Know the truth and do not avoid the hard issues.....because one day it could mean you can no longer find the person who has been hiding their secrets for so long.