Turns out there are exactly three reasons one can apply for divorce in the State of California: (1) irreconcilable differences, (2) incurable sanity or (3) nullity of marriage for legal reasons (ie incestuous marriage, one member was not of a legal age to marry or fraud).
Irreconcilable differences. We hear it a lot, but what does it really mean? Websters defines it as representing findings or points of view that are so different from each other that they cannot be made compatible.
I think about this a lot. I think about the reasons for my marriage of nearly ten years to end. I chase them around in my head. The bottom line is that when you cannot agree on an idea, fact or statement, and in fact debate the meanings of certain words in a semantic fashion to beat those differences into alignment, there comes a point when you realize this is what is meant by irreconcilable differences.
It means we're not going to agree. Ever. Not gonna happen. And when it's an irreconcilable difference regarding a foundation of a relationship, at least you hope you can agree about the outcome, because there's really only one outcome if you can't agree at that point, and that's to agree to disagree. Which in this case means divorce.
Though this was initially my decision, and even though it's been over a month, I still feel stunned as I move through the process of dividing up our property and filling out what seems like endless amounts of paperwork. (It was so easy to get married?!)
I naively thought I'd be able to blithely file the papers, put away my wedding ring, update my Facebook relationship status and move on. Instead I'm emotionally up and down. My future as a single woman is overwhelming. I know logically that time needs to work it's magic, but I won't deny that there' s a small part of me that would like to wake up from this nightmare.
So if you ask me how I'm doing and I don't respond right away, well, some days just suck. The generosity and support of friends, family and fiber are slowly working their magic. Time will do it's thing. Life will go on.
And some day we'll have some warmer weather and we'll get to play in the dirt and plant out all of those seedlings we started in the greenhouse! (Sspt, yes, spring is on it's way. I saw blackberry bushes in bloom in Auburn today. It's coming.)
3 comments:
Hug. Been (sort of) where you are. I'm sorry. It sucks.
Sending love and sympathy,
Liz
sending you some warm fuzzle fraggle hugs!
While ending a 13 year relationship and being completely and totally terrified to the point I had severe panic attacks, I read a very good book whose basic premise was that we are very good at beginning things and haven't a clue how to do endings. It was an epiphany. I suspect that it is very much a cultural part of being an American. Endings are HARD. The other part of the book said that "the pain we know is far less frightening than the pain we don't..." It is big and scary out there and you're out there all alone. But scary means you're growing and growing is good. Some days will be very, very hard, some days will be better and yes, through time you, Luci, will grow and change and blossom in ways you never dreamed of and it will be very, very good.
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