One year after the divorce, what can be said about the end of a 14-year marriage? It is the elephant in the room I have not mentioned in this blog. Suffice to say we chased a dream and woke up when I got diagnosed with MS. Though MS wasn't the only cause of the end, it certainly did not help.
Relationships are hard enough without the stress of an erratic debilitating disease. Despite platitudes about "in sickness and in health," life is more complicated than that. We tried mightily, but in the end we were not making one another better people by staying together. It was truly a no-fault divorce. We cried and parted as civilly as any couple could.
The years were not wasted. We loved, worked hard, played hard, helped raise a delightful young lady and traveled to some very wonderful places. We remodeled and paid off the mortgage on our house in addition to saving a bit of money. When we sold the house and divided the property, it was enough for me to buy a nice condo, pay cash for the expensive hsct treatment in Chicago, and have some left to live on if recovery from chemo takes longer than expected. I'm not rich, but I'm not broke. I expect to continue working for a living. For all of that, I am forever grateful to Jill.
And I thoroughly enjoyed visits from Jill's daughter Anna while I was in Chicago. The girl I've known since she was four is now 19, mature beyond her years, and thriving at Loyola University. Between final exams, Anna took a cross-town bus to visit me with snacks, bagels and good conversation. When Jill connected though Chicago on a business flight, the three of us got together for a very nice brunch. As usual, Anna's enthusiasm was contagious. It made me think about my new MS-free life ahead. If I can muster even a fraction of Anna's energy, single life is going to be better than OK.
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