“When I got home 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 seem to be annoyed by my words, 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 had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore.
I just pitied her!
With a 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 then 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 loved Jane 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 went
straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an
eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there 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 out bridal
room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration
I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she
was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her
odd request.
I told Jane about my wife’s divorce
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 any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her
hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a 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 Jane about this. It became easier to
carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me
stronger.
She was choosing what to wear one morning.
She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she
sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had
grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.
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 the moment and said,
Dad, it’s 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, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded
my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just 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 office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without
locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked
upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, 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
head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably
because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t
love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on
our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed
to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and
burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the
way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to
write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until
death do us apart.
That evening I arrived home, flowers in my
hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed
-dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane
to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from
the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the
divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….
The small details of your lives are what
really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the
money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but
cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find time to be your spouse’s friend and
do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy
marriage!