divorce

This is a nice story about love, marriage, endurance, and, above all, about how short life is and about doing what is right.. Thanks to R for the original story..

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When I got home last that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, "I've got something to tell you..." She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. "I want a divorce." I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seemed to be annoyed with my words, but instead she asked me softly, "Why?"

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me. "You are not a man!" That night we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer. She has lost my heart to Drew. I didn't love her anymore. I just pitied her.

With deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company.

She glanced at it and tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I love Drew so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in-front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but I went to bed straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Drew.

When I woke up, she was still at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into our bridal room on our wedding day.

She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her our of our bedroom to the front door every morning. I thought she was going crazy... Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Drew about my wife's conditions... She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. "No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce." she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us. "Daddy is holding mommy in his arms!" His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly, "Don't tell our son about the divorce." I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time... I realized she was not young anymore. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For one minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Drew about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at that moment and said, "Dad its time to carry mom out!" To him seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, to the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly, it was like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, "I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy."

I drove to the office... jumped out of my car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind... I walked upstairs. Drew opened the door and I said to her, "Sorry Drew, I do not want the divorce anymore."

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. "Do you have a fever?" she said. I moved her hand off my forehead, "Sorry Drew, I said, I wont divorce. My married life was boring maybe because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other anymore. Now I realized that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day, I am suppose to hold her until death do us part."

Drew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slapped and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop along the way, i ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The sales girl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote "I'll carry you out every morning till death do us part."

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I ran upstairs only to find my wife in the bed -- dead..... I cried and cried uncontrollably and carried her for the last time from our room to the hall with tears streaming down my face and gazing at my only son. His tears rolling from his eyes, that made me cry even more. I had lost my love, my wife, and a loving and caring mother and nothing I can do now to put the clock backward.

I had all the time now to look at her motionless body in detail but I knew it was only going to be for a short while until she made her last journey to the Lord... I held my son and wept again and again thinking of all the things I did not do for her when she was still alive... and placed gently the flowers in her hands with my tears trickling on them... she was gone forever.... all my tears would not bring her back.

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not a mansion, a car, property, money... These create an environment conductive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend. Do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage.

The time is always right to do what is right.