I wasn’t entirely joking.
The divorce was finalized on a Tuesday in November.
I was in my office for most of it, on a call about a merger that was closing in 6 days.
Patricia texted me at 2:47 p.m.
“It’s done.”
I finished the call.
I told my assistant I was stepping out.
I went to the coffee shop on the corner and ordered something I don’t even remember and sat at a small table by the window and watched people walk by on the street for about 15 minutes.
Then I went back to the office.
I still live in the house.
I bought new furniture for the living room, not because there was anything wrong with the old furniture, but because I wanted things in my house that I had chosen entirely for myself.
I learned that I prefer silence in the mornings.
I learned that I’d been waking up tense every day for years without noticing.
I started sleeping better within 2 weeks of living alone, which told me something I was still processing about what the previous 4 years had actually cost me.
My sister-in-law and I have dinner every few weeks.
She is the best thing I kept from that marriage.
She still sends flowers sometimes for no reason, the way she sent them to my office after I helped with the venue contract.
Last week, she sent a small cactus with a card that said, “Thriving without much water.”
I put it on my kitchen windowsill where I can see it every morning.
