by Gene Chailland
10/27/09
Ok....so first off I'll give this disclaimer that this column has nothing to do with wrestling other than a brief mention at the end so some of you may want to skip this one. I'm writing this under my shoot name cause this isn't a "rasslin column" from "Gene Jackson"...this isn't me doing my "gimmick"...it's just me the real person who not many of you know.
The reason I'm writing this is I've gotten several emails and texts from people asking me why I've seemingly "dropped off the face of the earth." The truth is I've tried to avoid talking about this for quite a while as I hoped things would end up working out and no one would really need to know but it is now clear that isn't the case so I figured I owed BT, my friends, and the three other people who are interested in my columns or radio shows an explanation for my absence.
This is a 100% shoot and I probably shouldn't be posting this here but it's easier than addressing everyone individually. The last three months have been the worse three months of my life. As many of you may know about a year and a half ago my wife was told her heart function was less than 20% and there was a major artery that was blocked which required a stent. After that she was on a ton of medications and was sick and dizzy all the time and was just sitting at home as she put it "waiting to die." This year in late June she went back in the hospital for what was thought to be a "mini-stroke"....it was then discovered one of her heart medications was what was causing her to be so dizzy and out of it all the time...they took her off the medication and she felt better and started working out in a just a few weeks she was a like a new person her ........unfortunately a new person I'd never met. Her heart function had improved and she felt better than she had in a long time which you'd THINK would be a good thing. I'm not going to completely bury her by going into detail but let's just say she made a lot of stupid decisions and did a lot of things that were completely out of character for the woman I'd been married to for nine years. At first I wanted to try to forgive her and work things out but she continued to do what she'd been doing and I just can't live with that.
So at this point we are separated and will be getting divorced...due to the fact that she couldn't work for a year and a half while she was sick we don't have the money to get a divorce right now or to live in separate places and even though I don't want to be her husband anymore I'm not gonna just kick her out on the street because of my step children whom I've raised since they were little......so we're forced for the time being to still live together....which is completely awkward and miserable. So while dealing with all this I've really had no interest in keeping up with wrestling or chiming in on all the drama that's popped up here and there because in the big picture of my life right now none of that shit is important enough to talk about.
I do feel bad for just abandoning the website but the new writers Jamie Jay, Golden Boy, Maxx Corbin, Downtown Bruno, and forgive me if I've left anyone out have been doing great work along with the regulars like BT, Brian Thompson, and Sal Corrente. Hopefully soon I can get back involved again and contribute whether it be columns, a radio show, or whatever. I wanna thank the people who have emailed me, texted me, or contacted me on myspace checking in with me you know who you are and it's much appreciated. I'm not sure what's gonna happen once I get divorced.....if I can transfer my job I may go back to Mississippi, if not I guess I'll be staying around here. If I come back to Mississippi I hope to get back involved on some level with some of the wrestling shows around there because I really miss it and have for years.
The only wrestling related note to this column is once again I'm gonna make myself be a liar......even though I've said to numerous people on numerous occassions that I'd "never wrestle a match again" I've recently been offered a match that I can't pass up....so in January, Southern Destruction will go to the ring together at least one more time....the one good thing is while dealing with all the stress of my marriage falling apart I started going to the track everyday and working out so I've lost about 60 pounds so far and I'm in better shape than I have been in years and hope to have made more improvements by January. Now if I can just stop drinking again....I'll be all set....but that doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon....oh well you gotta have something to get your through the weekend......thanks for reading. If anyone needs to contact me for any reason my email is genejackson95@gmail.com. I would like to start getting booked on some shows in some capacity so if there's any interest email me....I just need plenty of advance notice to get be able to get off from my shoot job.
