Plush Angel
Hello, my former husband! Youll probably never read this letter, and perhaps it doesnt matter. Everything has already been said. Over time, you simply look back at your youthful experiences with a completely different perspective.
Its been twenty years since we signed the papers that officially ended our marriage. I can picture that day clearly: the magistrate urged us to think carefully, not to rush any decision, reminding us that we have a fourteenyearold daughter. I was resolute. Lets finish this, and get on with our lives!
You stayed silent, neither agreeing nor dissenting, just holding onto whatever opinion you had.
From that moment, the family ceased to exist. Our lives drifted apart, side by side yet strangers, and we stopped speaking altogether. Why bother? We had nothing left in common. Hold onour daughter! Little Poppy is baffled. Why are Mum and Dad no longer together when there were never any fights or grudges? We always lived happily, laughed together, swam in our own little sea of joy
You never declared love to me outright, and I never demanded it. Your love lived in your eyes and in the things you did. You always gave me extraordinary gifts, each souvenir packed with meaning.
I remember New Years Eve when you hung a funny plush angel on the Christmas treewhere did you find it, I wondered? As the clock struck midnight you said, May this little angel be a symbol of our love. That angel hung above the front door for every year we were together, and each New Year it was lifted back onto the tree, watching over our happiness. It didnt protect us, as it turned out.
I fell for you without looking back, a passion as fierce as a hurricanedark, relentless, burning everything in its path. It felt like a devilish obsession. You were married, with two daughters of your own. We crossed every line, trampled over everyone. Our families, your wife and my own, suffered terribly, but we, wrapped in sin, saw nothing else, drunk on our fervour.
Six months into that madness, a sudden clarity hit me. Lord, we are completely different people! I thought. Its like yes and no at the same timewhat have I done?
The same nightmare haunted me night after night: I tried to reach my house, but it was surrounded by a thick, sucking mud. The more I struggled, the deeper the mire pulled me, and the house drifted farther away.
When I finally clawed my way out of that darkness, youmy other halfhad already built a new family. I understand and dont judge. Everyone craves love, stability, peace. A great deal of water has flowed since then
Youth, a daughter, a granddaughterthose are the only things we still share, Ian. Is that not enough? Our destinies simply run on different tracks.
New Years Eve is approaching. Ill hang our angel on the tree once again. Its held up remarkably well, though its wings have fallen off.
