Just yesterday, I was strolling down the street, minding my business, when who do I see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My ex-wife\u2014yes, the woman I spent over five decades with\u2014walking hand in hand with some guy! I mean, seriously? We\u2019re both 72, and there they are, acting like giddy teenagers right out in public. I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, naturally, I marched right up to them and let loose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me:<\/strong> \u201cVanessa, have you completely lost it? We just got divorced! Don\u2019t you have an ounce of shame?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her:<\/strong> \u201cCalm down! You’re jumping to conclusions again. It’s about time you met him properly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Me:<\/strong> \u201cYou want me to meet the guy? Are you kidding me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man:<\/strong> \u201cWait, just hear me out\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I folded my arms, still fuming. \u201cI\u2019m not here to make friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The man looked nervous, but not smug or arrogant like I\u2019d expected. His voice was gentle. \u201cMy name is Mark. I\u2019m Vanessa\u2019s cousin. We were just catching up over coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I blinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCousin?\u201d I turned to Vanessa. \u201cSince when do you have a cousin named Mark?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vanessa let out a long sigh. \u201cSince always. He moved to Oregon decades ago. We lost touch after his wife passed. He just moved back a few weeks ago and reached out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt something sour and stupid churn in my chest. \u201cSo, you\u2019re not…?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She raised an eyebrow. \u201cDating? No. I just spent 53 years with a man who never really listened<\/em> to me. I\u2019m not rushing into anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I opened my mouth but had no words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark stepped back politely. \u201cI\u2019ll give you two a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vanessa crossed her arms. \u201cYou always assume the worst of me. Even after everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI saw you holding hands,\u201d I muttered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMark just told me how scared he is of growing old alone. I held his hand like I would with any friend who needed comfort. You think I\u2019m out here on some romantic rebound?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the ground. \u201cI don\u2019t know. Maybe I just\u2026 didn\u2019t expect to feel this way. Seeing you happy without me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vanessa\u2019s face softened a little. \u201cWalter, we both know we stopped being happy a long time ago. The divorce wasn\u2019t about hating each other\u2014it was about finally being honest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I nodded slowly. \u201cBut it still hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course it does,\u201d she said. \u201cBut maybe that pain is what we needed to finally see each other clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She placed a hand gently on my arm. \u201cGo live, Walter. Don\u2019t let jealousy keep you bitter. We had our time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And just like that, she turned to rejoin Mark, chatting softly as they walked away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stood there a long while, wind biting at my collar, watching the two of them disappear down the block\u2014not as lovers, but as people finding pieces of comfort wherever they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And for the first time in months, I didn\u2019t feel angry anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just\u2026 free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just yesterday, I was strolling down the street, minding my business, when who do I see? My ex-wife\u2014yes,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":955,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/states-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}