The Beginning of the End: Time Out

"The beginning of the end," thought Marcus, sadly. "That does not make sense, or does it?" he asked himself, as he changed the tire on his bicycle. "Maybe this is how I should look at what is happening in my life, at the moment?" he asked himself. "This is definitely not working out for us." 

His lengthy relationship with Joanne, his girl friend, was on the verge of collapsing.

"It is going downhill, every day."

Deep in thought, Marcus tried to figure out what to do.

"We had everything going for us. I really thought that we had it made. Our life together, could have been so perfect. Maybe it was just too good to be true?" 

He pulled the front tire off his bike. 

"There is definitely a cut in this tire. But, it's Christmas," he spoke aloud. "I can't break up with Joanne, over the holidays. That would be so mean, but not to do so, might be disastrous. What should I do?"

Marcus and Joanne had been together for a long time, but neither of them were happy, as their interests were heading in totally opposite directions. When they tried to do things together, it invariably wound up as a disaster. Their level of communication had broken down completely.

Inwardly, Marcus knew that fighting and arguing all of the time was not the way he wanted to live. Nor was it the way to start an engagement, much less a marriage.  

"Time out," he decided. "I cannot give her an engagement ring."

"Joanne, I'd like some time to re-think our relationship. At the moment, I need some time out. I think you'll agree that you do, too. I've decided that for now, we're going to go our separate ways. I'm sorry this has to happen, just before Christmas, but in the long run, it'll be better for both of us. We can still be friends, but it's probably better if we don't see one another."

"The beginning of the end," decided Marcus. "It is for the best. God, please give me the courage to say these words to Joanne. A brand new tire on my bike, that works for me too."