Cracked and Broken Reveals the Gold that came after two years of extreme hardship. When Shelby and I met, we fell madly in love. Forty-seven days after we met, we were married, and two days after that, my ex-girlfriend began a massive attack against us. I was arrested and due to COVID, what would have been a two to three month ordeal, ended up being an 8 month absence. Nothing came of all the false claims, yet I lost 8 months of my life.

Things didn’t resolve themselves upon my release. We spent another year and a half in the court system trying to regain custody of my son, Ramses. Every time we went before the judge, she ruled against us, as if we were cursed, despite the overwhelming evidence we presented that showed the opposing party’s lies and manipulations. In the end we got what the system gives every father—very little—four days a month. The final ruling broke our hearts. We were cracked and broken, left behind with a constant heaviness.

In my absence, my wife, Shelby took over my tattoo business and my entire life. We had just met and she knew very little about tattooing and much less about running a tattoo business. She was 19 years old, at the time, and with me on the phone directing her daily, she learned the industry, taught herself how to tattoo and pierce and run a 46 year-old man’s life, on top of dealing with her own issues. She was cracked and broken then.

Shelby has suffered life-long sexual trauma by her narcissistic father. He continued to harass her in my absence, and does still from time to time to this day. She suffers severe PTSD and constant anxiety. She has been cracked and broken at the depths.

This is where the narcissists lose, because in the end, though cracked and broken we may be, there is gold inside of us. We are human and we bleed. We are not hollow, empty shells that will never know love. These hardships have made our bond stronger, forged us in the fire of affliction. We have had the opportunity to be tested, to know one another in the intimacy of both bliss and agony. We have suffered and come out on the other end victorious; for the love we share is the glue that binds us.

This is what it means to be rich. This is priceless, like ancient porcelain, while even cracked and broken, still more valuable than gold.

Cracked and Broken Reveals the Gold

Oil on Canvas 23” X 29”