Hi Readers:)
Take a few minutes to read this beautiful story (via email)
“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!
If you don’t share this, nothing will
happen to you.
If you do, you just might save a
marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up.”
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| Source: Google image |
