Three days before our long-awaited anniversary trip to the Maldives, I collapsed in the kitchen.

A stroke had hit, weakening one side of my body and affecting my speech.

As I lay in a hospital bed, I expected my husband Jeff to be there with me. But instead, I heard his voice on the phone, calling from the airport.

“Postponing costs too much,” he said flatly. “I’m going with my brother.”

Then he hung up.

In that moment, I felt abandoned.

After 25 years of standing by him—through job losses, failed ventures, and countless setbacks—I had never once walked away.

But when I needed him the most, he chose a tropical escape over his own wife.