Let me start off by saying I am a very big fan of true crime documentaries and I will watch these at any point of the day if boredom strikes. I really enjoy them but I have to say on most days I am never ready for the shocking bits that each story comes with. Today I want to look back at one that had me questioning if marriage is really worth it. This one is called American Murder: The Family Next Door.
In this story is a cute little family, mom-Shanann, dad- Christopher and 2 beautiful little girls- Bella and Celeste. The mom was big on documenting their life so she would take tonnes of pictures and videos which she would post on Facebook. If anyone were to look at her Facebook account they would swear these people were happy. I for one would have sbwl’d (craved) their life, not knowing that tragedy was lurking.
On the day of her disappearance, Shanann was due for a doctors appointment which she never missed, her friend clocked that she had missed her appointment and went down to the house to check in on her. There was no one at the house so she called Christopher who showed up and was just as confused as everyone else. Shanann’s phone and wedding ring were in the house, the girls were missing but there was no sign of a break-in, so what had happened to them? Let me just add that Shannan had also just announced that she was pregnant, Chris had shown such excitement to the news too.
Shanann’s friend was aware of the problems that were in the marriage, Christopher had become very distant to the point he was no longer intimate with his wife. Shannan had suspected that he had found someone else, but her friends thought it was not that deep. Turns out he had found someone else, and this young lady was under the impression they were getting separated. Christopher had started this lie with his mistress and yet he did not have the heart to tell his wife.
He woke up that fateful morning and strangled his wife, wrapped her in a blanket and carried her body to the car. He took his two little girls and suffocated them then threw their bodies into tankers. This is when the shock hit me, his daughters were awake when he smothered them, how did he have the heart to do that to them? Over the fact that he wanted to start a new life with his mistress? Till this very moment, none of it makes sense to me. None of it.
It also made me sit there and wonder if we are doing marriage wrong. What if the bible in itself is a scam because it is the one that made us all believe that in life we are meant to find that one and be with them forever. I think you and I would agree that as human beings we have failed at this, we can’t even be true to each other during the dating phase so what makes us think that we will find it in us to be true in marriage. A wedding band does not change our nature.
What if we woke up and threw the entire ideology into the trash and accepted that we are meant to experience people in life and it is ok. Let us introduce reviews into marriages, allow people to be honest with each other after 3 years. If one of the parties is no longer interested they part ways amicably. Surely there is no need for us to be going to extremes. Imagine if Christopher felt he could admit he was unhappy and wanted to do life with someone else, Shanann, Bella and Celeste would have had a chance at life too.
Forever sounds great and looks great on camera because when they yell cut, those people go about their lives. It is not our reality and I think we need to start accepting that. Divorce has been given such a bad rep but that girl is the girl she thinks she is, she comes with freedom, growth and new beginnings. Imagine if we did it without the cheating and abuse, just ‘it was nice, goodbye?’ This is not to say that it will not hurt, hunnay it will pinch but I would like to think it is better than watching someone neglect you because they are mentally done with you.
I may be crazy for thinking that this is the best way to go about it, please chime in. Let me know what you think about reviewing marriages and relationships. Use the comments section my loves! CIAO!