"How could this ever happen?" Veronica thought. She was in her late 50's, and wearing probably the most sensible shoes ever made. Her husband of 35 years had just served her the divorce papers, citing irreconcilable differences. She had felt that this was coming, and sensed that he was being mentally unfaithful to her as they had raised the last of their five children and sent him off to college.
College, where they had met, was thousands of miles away in her mind. They had met during the late 60's as freshmen, and she was incredibly attractive, with her short skirts, boots, and long blonde hair that was always straight. He had fallen for her while he was an pharmacy student, and she was an art student. Opposites had attracted then, but 30 years later, they simply repelled. Since that year in college, she had settled down, and lost her slightly bohemian attitude, and entered into accounting. They became a boring couple, accustomed to each other's imperfections, and then ignoring them. That was the first thing that happened, and after that the romance died, they had sex a few times a year, and then they just stopped altogether. They still slept in the same bed every night, but the kisses were cold, hard, and without love.
Veronica sighed quietly as she drank her black coffee with two sugars. She would have to change her life and adjust to this new situation with dignity and above all, sanity. She had devoted 35 years of her life to him, marrying him when she was 21 years old, and now she was 58. Being alone scared her half to death, and the thought of dating scared her even more than being alone. She had no idea how to approach it, and then thought back to her college days when she had the horrifying experience of holding her date's bottle of Crown while he got glasses and the bottle slipped out of her hand that was wet with sweat caused by her nervousness. The bottle shattered and the guy came rushing to her, begging her to tell him that the bottle wasn't theirs.
She couldn't go through that again. She had to know herself first before she could think about dating again. She decided that the first thing that was wrong with her life was the "safe" job that she had taken because her husband had told her to be practical about her major and career. She had let him form her into his ideal woman, but that wasn't even good enough for him. He had an affair with his coworker for the past two years before he finally brought up the subject of divorce. She had known about the affair all along, but never had really believed he wanted to leave her.
She stared at her shoes and her outfit, and the diamond ring on her left finger, thinking that pinstripe suits and sensible shoes shouldn't even be her weekend uniform. The first thing to go would be the shoes. She was tired of being sensible just because her soon-to-be-ex-husband disliked frivolity and hated seeing her spend money from the joint bank account on things like clothing and shoes. She placed them in the bag hanging on her door for the African relief fund.
She looked into her closet, pulled out a pair of wide-leg denim jeans that she had bought the month before but never worn, a long-sleeved silk blouse, and a pair of black pointy-toed shoes. She put them on, took off her wedding ring, and headed to the salon for her cut and color. It was over. She could dye her hair, cut it, or do anything she wanted to it without asking for her husband's permission.
Love this :-)
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