Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.
-Mary Oliver
Five years ago, I would have given absolutely anything to see myself today.
November 20, 2014, was the day I discovered that there was a lot about my marriage, and my husband, that I didn’t know. It was the day that the life I thought I was living suddenly slipped between my fingertips and disappeared.
It was all hard, at first. The brutality of it. The shame of it. The white-hot incandescent rage of being treated as disposable. The tawdriness of the whole thing. The sudden plunge into single parenting. So much of it was hard, but the divorce? Oh god.
Louis CK is problematic in many ways, but he had it right when he said that divorce is always good news.
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I’d always heard that relationships took hard work, so when I got into my first real one at age 18, that’s what I resolved to do. My parents had recently split up and that wasn’t going to be me. No, when I married, it was going to be forever.
So I worked, you know? For the next thirteen years, I bought the books and did the research and read the articles and went to the counsellors. And while I still agree that relationships are hard work and everything good in this life is worth working for, not enough people tell you that the work should be rewarding. Your efforts should amount to something. And you shouldn’t be doing that work alone – reading the books alone and going to counselling alone and doggedly trying to push a relationship up a steep hill and blaming yourself when you can’t make it to the top.
I’ve always found it hard to write about my divorce and today is no different. Partly because it’s really hard to write about something when you’re in it. Partly because this story also involves someone else and I don’t know how to tell my story without also telling pieces of his. Partly because I truly don’t think anyone ever knows what goes on in a marriage except the two people in it, and even then, a situation can look radically different from opposite ends of the table.
I’ve also felt frustrated, however, at the expectation that I should always take the high road. This sounds great in theory, very Michelle Obama “when they go low, we go high”, but in practice, I’ve found that taking the high road mostly just seems to mean keeping my mouth shut.
So I’ve written a lot privately instead, responding to emails from women in similar situations reaching out for support, someone on the other side to tell them it’ll be OK. I always respond to those emails because five years ago all I wanted was the same thing – a glimpse, one tiny glimpse showing that Olive and I would be ok. That I would figure it out. That I was capable of navigating what lay ahead because someone else had, too.
No one really writes honestly about divorce or infidelity or how to come through this brutal experience in one piece. And that’s the challenging part, we all keep our mouths shut. And by doing so, I’m not able to give to others now what I so desperately needed then.
Today, I’m going to try.
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If you’re struggling with a marriage that has ended due to infidelity or feels like it might end soon, this is what I know.
Five years ago, on November 20, I got ambushed with a huge box of darkness and initially, that’s all I could see. That darkness blotted out everything else in my life. I was so hurt and then later, so angry.
These were all-consuming, deeply uncomfortable feelings and honestly, I wanted to run from them as fast as I could (maybe you do, too). But you can’t run from your own life and you can’t fast-forward feelings, so instead, I had to learn to sit with all of it – the all-consuming feelings and the shame and the logistical nightmare of separating one life into two. I approached the end of my marriage a lot like I did the middle – I bought books and researched and read articles and went to counselling.
What I found was that you have to feel hurt and angry to get to what comes next. If you try to rush these tough emotions or pretend they don’t exist, they’ll never truly leave. You can’t skip the shitty parts.
A lot of people get stuck here, I think. The only thing more terrifying than that anger is letting go of it. Not being hurt anymore feels like a tacit endorsement of one of the most horrific emotional betrayals a human being can experience at the hands of someone who was supposed to love them.
I remember that as time passed and people in our lives moved on and accepted the situation, I felt like I was being erased; it felt like the pain of what happened to me and Olive was being erased, too. For a long time, I struggled with the feeling that if I was okay, it somehow made what happened okay, and I was absolutely not going to sign off on that.
You may be wrestling with this too, and that’s fair. The fact is, you were hurt. Deeply. And what happened wasn’t okay and never will be. But at some point, that stuff just becomes too heavy to carry. At some point, you have to put it down.
One day you might start to feel that what happened was just …what happened. Without a story attached. A fact you can’t fight against. And then slowly, you can begin to let go. As the worst parts recede, the healing begins and you can start seeing that darkness for the gift it truly was.
I think I reached that point about three years ago. I’d had glimpses many times before then, but healing isn’t always a linear process. I’d bounce around between feeling gratitude some weeks and anger others, but one day I realized I could explain what happened without feeling emotional. I’d hear news about my ex and not feel any reaction. (I still feel frustrated when dealing with communication and cooperation and legal issues, but the rest of the time I just… don’t think about it.)
This takes time. Let it.
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Most of all, know that at some point, as impossible as it might feel now, you may feel grateful.
In the early days, someone told me that one day I’d want to send the other woman a fruit basket, to thank her. At the time, it sounded absolutely ludicrous. I felt nothing but rage. But I’ve thought of that conversation so many times over the last five years; I’ve sent dozens of imaginary fruit baskets.
Because here’s the truth: I deserved better than this, and I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone. But if I could go back in time, I would choose this divorce again and again and again. And whereas November 20 used to be a day I dreaded, it now seems more like a birth-day.
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It’s been five years. I’m 35 and Olive is seven. She’s kind and funny; loving and loved. We have a beautiful, full, imperfect life, and I’ve built it for us from scratch. I chose a home, a car, a school for her, and work for me. She has activities she enjoys and friends she adores. For almost two years now, I’ve been supporting us singlehandedly – not by choice but I’m proud of it nonetheless. I’ve leveraged what used to be an occasional freelance writing gig into a full-time career. I’ve learned and grown and put the work in to move on from past hurt towards wholeness. I’ve found a relationship where the love and effort I put in is returned tenfold.
At every single step, I doubted myself. I doubted whether I was capable of doing it. and whether we would make it. A lot of the time I still do. Maybe you do, too.
But this post? This is your glimpse. If I could have seen today, back in 2014, I would have been crying for an entirely different reason. I would have sobbed with relief. Gratitude. Pride. I did it. And you will, too. You can, too.
Right now you hold a box of darkness. Soon you’ll see the light.
16 Comments
Thank you so much for this. I have been following you since before your divorce and have felt your shock and pain when you wrote about it. I have watched your journey, cheering you on from my living room. I have been divorced for 15 years. I was married for 20. He was unfaithful but I didn’t find that out until after the divorce. It took me 20 years to realize what you just said, that relationships were hard work, yes but it should be rewarding and you shouldn’t be doing it alone. It has been a long hard road raising 8 kids by myself, fighting him for support every step of the way, but it was oh so much harder when I was carrying him as well and trying to protect my children from him. Thank you for this blog. I love that you share your story and please know that somewhere in Ontario there is someone who thinks you are amazing and wishes all the best for you and Olive.
I’m so sorry you went through this, too. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to go it alone with 8 little ones but I completely know what you mean when you say “it was so much harder when I was carrying him as well” .
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a kind comment ❤️
I also have a child who I single handedly support. Timeline is similar & although I write alot I find it difficult to talk about why I am solo. Infidelity or substance use & manipulation…and the silence we learn as women…is not right. My devotion to my son and helping women is. Thank you for your story. A friend shared it. It lights up the world.
So happy for you and O. Thank you for being so vulnerable, courageous and brave!
You are so articulate and write about your experiences so eloquently. I have followed your journey and watched your pain and am so glad that you are now in a place where you are being loved wholeheartedly. Nobody deserves that betrayal and you have handled it with dignity but also advocated for what is right. Olive is lucky to have you
Thank you ❤️
I usually follow you on Feedly but I had to visit your website to comment on this one. How brave, how bold, how honest, how absolutely what I needed to hear right now. I read your blog back then as well and I’m thrilled to see your perspective from the other side. But its also incredibly reassuring to hear as some people very close to me go through divorce and I begin to question everything. Thank you for your courage and honesty.
As a fellow non-commenter, I know what a big thing is is to feel compelled to actually reply to a post! -Thank you so much for taking the time. I’m wishing the best for those close to you who are going through the divorce process It’s a tough, humbling, exhausting process, but they will come out in one piece. Promise
I followed you long before your divorce and I remember sensing something was wrong before you wrote about it. I never comment here anymore but I’m still a faithful reader. Your experience and your subsequent writings about it impacted me and I often thought it like I knew you… so happy you are happy!
It’s such a strange time when I think back about it Thank you so much for sticking around through all the changes ❤️
Madeleine,
I have been reading your blog since mid 2016 and have never left a comment before. I discovered you through my sister, Montana, who also has gittlemens and at some point reached out to you about that (with a very encouraging response from you). I just wanted to say that I am happy that you are in a better place as I noticed that you had stopped posting as much this past year and I missed reading. I also miss all of your funny Olive posts. I forgot who said the quote “without sadness, there is no happiness”. When I get depressed I try to remember this. Alas, I am an engineer and not a wordsmith like you are so this post is not going to be elegant but I just wanted to reach out. Sending love from Oklahoma!
Thank you so much for leaving such a kind comment, Morgan! I know blog posts have been few and far between in the last few years – it’s a combo of not having enough time, and finding it hard to write for pleasure when I write for a full time job.
Everything has its season, and sometimes I think my blog’s season has now passed, but you never know . I hope your sister (a fellow Gitel-buddy) is doing well, thanks so much for saying hii!
I appreciate you for sharing this. It must have taken so much of you to do this, and I appreciate and take my hat off for you. You really are doing a great job in raising Olive. I know I don’t know you personally, but what you share about your life is really beautiful and proves that you’re doing a great and wonderful job. She’s such a beautiful girl. Thank you. And thank you for your courage and sharing your vulnerability! Lots of virtual hugs 🙂
I was dumb enough to marry my high school sweetheart. He took a dare back then that even HE could not get a certain girl (OTHER THAN ME) to go out with him> He accepted that challenge even though SHE was engaged to some other guy at that time! He MARRIED her, and they had 5 children together in less than the 6 years they were actually together before she could no longer tolerate his frequent infidelities. THAT didn’t teach me NOT to trust him ever again. He had stranded me, broken hearted at 16, and years later I was told he had been mugged and beaten beyond recognition and left to bleed out in the street. A few years LATER after I, too, had married and had 2 children of my own before divorcing ANOTHER liar and cheat, I was heading into a convenient store to pay for gas I had just put into my car and a dashing young man said “Hello” in passing and then asked how MY children were doing, calling them both by name. I did not recognize him and turned around to ask HOW he knew my children! He told me WHO he was, and explained he had had a total facial reconstruction after having been severely BEATEN, and had spent MONTHS in the hospital, but he was very much ALIVE and had in fact just come from church. He followed me home and we spent hours just talking and here HE was, back into my life again. His exwife had remarried and he now got weekend visitations with his children. He would bring them to my home and “drop them off” on the Friday evenings he would get to keep them and go run a couple of errands before showing back up on Sunday afternoons. THAT didn’t teach me to never trust him again either. Eventually I MARRIED him. Marriage to HIM meant I could not be trusted to GO anyplace HE did not take me, and I could not continue doing volunteer services with the County offices, or the local volunteer Fire Department, or attend Women’s AGAPE meeting with a close relative of mine, etc. He didn’t think it was safe for ME to drive to the grocery store because I couldn’t tell him how many times I would have to shift gears in my own car between home to the store. Need I go on…….? One day I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror and REALIZED I did NT RECOGNIZE the reflexion in my mirror, and I started RECLAIMING MYSELF bit by bit. He tried to stop me, but I didn’t give in and he THREATENED to leave. He thought I would beg him to stay, I guess, but I didn’t and what he failed to take with him that night, I generously packed for him and left on a neighbors screened in front porch for him to retrieve. THREE days later he tried to “come back home” and was shocked to learn I had had ALL THE LOCKS CHANGED. I totally “cleaned house” and moved forward with my life. Promised my LORD and SAVIOUR that I KNEW NOW that I could feel MORE “complete and HAPPY without a significant other than WITH THE WRONG PERSON, and I would let HIM decide when and IF HE had a RIGHT MAN for me! I have been BLESSED to have GOD place a wonderful man in my life who had suffered an even greater HELL than I had and we have been happily married for nearly 24 years now! SO WORTH the WAIT, and I thank GOD for him daily!
So good to read this Hello from your old buddy on the west coast. Glad your life is going so well now.
Hi Deb! I sure miss you and the rest of the team! It’s been ages since I was back in PR, but if I ever make it back there, I’ll come say hi! Hope you’re well