The Parallel Universe

I've learned that when someone is absent in a marriage, and eventually unfaithful, it is expected that they will claim half your retirement, the house you paid for, and anything else they can get. It may not be fair, but you can expect it.

And then today I was having lunch with a friend who told me about her friend. We'll call him Winston. Unfortunately, Winston was also going through a divorce. His wife had also cheated on him and had started behaving as if she was only 20 years old. She was drinking and clubbing much of the time while he was taking care of the kids.

Sounds familiar.

Winston's wife stayed in the relationship long enough to get Winston to pay off her credit cards. (Sounds very familiar.) But she wasn't really interested in the marriage for the long term. Once her bills were paid she was through with Winston. (God, this is like a parallel universe.)

But this is where the space-time-continuum deviates, or actually hits the wall. Whereas my wife decided that, if I was going to bitch about her lovers and her drinking, she was going to take a large share of the house and my retirement, and keep living there with me for a year without paying anything. But Mrs. Winston did it differently.

Mrs. Winston took a reasonable share of money and left. She didn't take his retirement. She didn't take his other properties. She didn't stick around and sponge off him. She left quietly, since it was her wish to leave in the first place.

It amazes me. She didn't feel entitled to everything. And now I wonder why my wife has to take it all? Shouldn't she have some sense of decency?

It's only money, I suppose.

On another note, I noticed something odd. You see, I am rather disorganized. I'm even sloppy. But for some reason I have taken every divorce document I have and scanned it. Then I file each paper away in labeled folders. Originals in one folder, copies in another. Correspondence in one folder, and court papers in another. Even the scanned files are in order.

This must be my attempt to get some control over this disaster.