Something was orchestrated without my knowledge that averted what could have been a crisis.

Suddenly I heard heavy footsteps behind me and a thick voice called out. “Wait!”

I turned around. It was the man at the hair salon.

“With this ring, I thee unwed.”

Not only had I lost my identity as a pastor’s wife— but I was suddenly being faced with a shocking insistence on divorce, with almost no explanation.

Angie came home from work, and we had dinner together, as usual. After watching the news at 6, she went downstairs to her suite. Around 11 pm she came back upstairs, gasping for breath.

I was a few steps away from the last ficus tree when I felt a firm tug in my consciousness to turn back, and like a poodle on a leash, I did.

I pull a chair, and cradle his thin body onto my lap. He buries his face on my chest and sobs. 

I looked at my recently renewed passport with my maiden name on it, and realized that this would be my first time traveling as “single again”. 

I’ve never read my own writing(s) in public, so this was a memorable experience!