divorce

There__ never a right or wrong side in a divorce case, but, given the human capacity for hate, the breakup of a legal relationship so tied to emotion often brought out the worst in people.

Short of a death in the family, a divorce is perhaps the most life-altering experience in human relationships.

Darling Daddy,This is Rose.The shed needs new wires now it has blown up.Caddy is bringing home rock-bottom boyfriends to see if they will do for Mummy. Instead of you.Love, Rose.

He went on for some time while I sat listening in silence because I knew he was right, and like two people who have loved each other however imperfectly, who have tried to make a life together, however imperfectly, who have lived side by side and watched the wrinkles slowly form at the corner of the other's eyes, and watched a little drop of gray, as if poured from a jug, drop into the other's skin and spread itself evenly, listening to the other's coughs and sneezes and little collected mumblings, like two people who'd had one idea together and slowly allowed that idea to be replaced with two separate, less hopeful, less ambitious ideas, we spoke deep into the night, and the next day, and the next night. For forty days and forty nights, I want to say, but the fact of the matter is it only took three. One of us had loved the other more perfectly, had watched the other more closely, and one of us listened and the other hadn't, and one of us held on to the ambition of the one idea far longer than was reasonable, whereas the other, passing a garbage can one night, had casually thrown it away.

Some days my mantra was I will stay in this marriage because I am a Christian and Christians stay, but other days, I thought: if the choices are Christianity or divorce then I will just have to embrace secular humanism because I am not even sure I believe any of this anymore and it is one thing to devote twenty minutes every morning to praying when you are not sure you believe anything anymore and it is another thing to organize your whole life around a marriage you don__ want to be in because a God who may or may not exist says let no man put asunder.

You can't have understanding without having empathy, and you can't have empathy without losing money.

The end of my marriage meant the end of fighting for something I believed in: my commitment to God to stay faithfully married until death, no matter the circumstances.

The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving. I didn't want to destroy anything or anybody. I just wanted to slip quietly out the back door, without causing any fuss or consequences, and then not stop running until I reached Greenland.

Zero cavities.Two abortions. One divorce.Thirty years on Earth.

He was leaving my stepmother for a sailboat. Not that I blamed him. A sailboat would at least be useful.

Emma is a mattress who got thrown off the truck when her parents split up. It's not like you can blame a mattress when people don't tie it down tight enough.

Major changes in life are just the way the universe is aligning a better future for you.

Divorce is success. Failure is staying married to a person you no longer love.

Our ex-wifes always harbour secrets about us that make them irresistable. Until, of course, we remember who we are and what we did and why we are not married anymore.

I have shaken loose. Like the lily, I rest on the deep water's surface. Not knowing the journey's end, I rest in nature's embrace.

The time period in question was before the proliferation of outsourcing, but there was already Craigslist as a __eady reserve_ resource. I had to resolutely disregard interesting-but-unhelpful search terms with advertising of local people looking for __asual encounters_ and __ants and raves._ In the possibly more helpful Craigslist category enigmatically titled __igs,_ I typed in: Lawyer seeks help. College drop-out preferred. Long hours, pressure-cooker environment, unyielding schedule. Pays all the Ramen noodles you can eat. Great opportunity to broaden your horizons and enhance your resume!It was a truthful description of the job, and consequently, I did not expect many takers.

As a divorced man, I can say from experience that there may come a time when a couple decides it is best to live separate lives: where you have different dreams and are no longer willing to make sacrifices to achieve the other__ goal.

It wasn't about being happy or unhappy. I just didn't want to be me anymore.