The instructor, Jim, told everyone what to expect. “There will be eight sessions at two hours each.” I was impressed; sixteen hours of this. I bet we will cover a lot of material.
There were twenty people in the class, eight men and twelve women, so I felt it might be a little biased. We sat around and Jim said, “Let’s introduce ourselves and share our situation.”
Mary started by saying she had been divorced for about a year and she hated her ex. She wished she had not gotten married.
Jim went next and said he had been divorced for about three years and he was doing much better. (I suppose that’s why they put him in charge.)
Kay said she had been divorced for about two years and had caught her husband having an affair. She went on to say when she found out and he was on his way back from the other woman’s place, she tried to find the bullets to a gun so she could shoot him! She was serious, because I asked her.
Then Bill, looking down, shaking his head and pushing up his glasses stated, “I was married for thirty-five years and I’m having a real hard time.”, “Thirty-five years; that’s a long time.” I commented. He told us they fought a lot and had their share of problems, but he never thought he would be in his sixties and alone. I was really affected by Bill’s comments.
Marilee, an Asian woman, said she was recently divorced and having a very difficult time. The tears began to well up in her eyes as she spoke of her children. She said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Nevertheless, I noticed she was the only woman having a hard time. The rest were either apathetic or angry, while the men like Bill and me were sad. It was weird.
Marty spoke next. He was quiet and humble. He looked frightened and lonely. He merely stated that he did not know what to say.
I spoke last. “My name is Mike. I’ve been divorced for almost a year and my ex and I are still friends.” I went on to say that, it ended at her request and I did not know why. I said, “We still live together.”
All the women looked at me in total disbelief. “How could you live together? Did you have an affair? Did she? Do you still have sex?”
“No, that ended at the date of separation, as it should,” I replied.
Why weren’t they asking the other men these questions? Because they were not living with their ex-wives and I was. Actually, Bill said, he lived with his ex for about a year, to sell their house, which was the same reason I did it. Still, Bill was old and wise, I was young and most of the women felt I was foolish; especially Kay the woman who tried to find the bullets to kill her ex.
That was about all the time we had in that first class. I realized something. Maybe I wasn’t the most screwed up person in the class.
