Till death do us part. Robert Yates probably thought he would live happily ever after hearing those words while standing at the alter with his soon-to-be wife, but, unfortunately for an entire nation, the happy ending turned to tragedy.

Imagine receiving a call from your spouse in the coldest tone telling you to come home now, and when you arrive, all five of your children are dead while your spouse is being taken away in handcuffs.

Yates found himself facing this unbelievable situation which could produce many different reactions.

He could have been unbelievably upset with his wife for committing such a haunting act and no one would have blamed him, but he held steadfast when saying she wasn’t the woman who killed his children. According to him, it was postpardom depression that caused this crime.

Robert Yates truly loves his wife and will support her through adversity which could end at the hands of another state execution in Texas.

His actions could seem very mind-boggling to many, who believe his wife should be put to death for the immense agony she’s caused, but his love is strong enough for him to stand by his wife during this devastation.

In an age with the highest divorce rate ever, there is a man who has a love so powerful that he doesn’t question the women he married didn’t commit this unspeakable crime.

It’s almost as if this was a fairy tale and Robert Yates is the knight in shining armor coming to save the princess, his wife, but unfortunately this story more than likely won’t have a happy ending.

This presents an enigma. On one hand, there is the power of love, but on the other, his wife had to drag her oldest child to drown the poor youth after chasing him throughout the house.

Losing one loved one would be enough, but Yates has to deal with the loss of five children and his wife, who may spend the rest of her life in jail, or die at the hands of the state.

Yates, holding a picture of his family in hand, answered questions for the media in an emotional press conference.

The conference was probably the most respectable I had ever seen.

The press core was not hammering into Yates about his wife drowning his children, but instead they were very polite and sensitive to his situation.

The press asked Yates about the type of medication his wife had been on, how the children were home-schooled, and many more questions. There could have been a reporter trying to get a jump on a story by asking difficult questions, but there was not.

At one point during the question and answer session, it looked as though Yates was about to break down, clutching the photo of his family when the press suddenly switched gears to a less sensitive area.

At a time when the media receives much criticism for their reporting techniques, my hat goes off to the members of the media who respected Yates having an unimaginable amount of pain.

The media needs to get the story, not probe as deep as possible to make Yates fold under the pressure to get a better story.

Yates also deserves credit for having the courage to stand up in front of the press to answer questions just a few days after the crisis.

He did the unfavorable task of having to explain his wife and children to the media, bringing back memories of a better time, but Yates managed to hold his composure during the entire conference.

Yates will have the difficult job of having to live with the death of five children at the hands of his wife for the rest of his life.

He will be the one who must put his five children in the ground this week.

He will have to go back to the house where the killing occurred and go through the children’s belongings.

He will go visit his wife in prison knowing her fate may be similar to that of their kids.

Yates has handled this turn of events in his life remarkably well, but is there any remarkably well way to handle losing a family?

He will have to live one day at a time and may break down along the way, but this is a writer who hopes this man does make it through this perilous situation because there are not too many people who could have dealt with this disaster in their lives.

Good luck, Robert Yates. The road ahead may be difficult, but hopefully it will be a little brighter.

David Frost is a sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication from Des Moines.