Before Our Divorce, Carry Me Out In Your Arms
Dear friends,
a very touching story that my friend emailed to me, and which I’d really love
to share with you all. It is a letter written by a Singaporean man that talks
about his marriage with his wife.
Please
Read and Share to save breaking marriages. Whether you are Married or Not You
Should Read This...
I hope you
will enjoy it as much as I did.
On my
wedding day, I carried my wife in my arms. The bridal car stopped in front of
our one-room flat. My buddies insisted that I carry her out of the car in my
arms. So I carried her into our home. She was then plump and shy. I was a
strong and happy bridegroom.
This was
the scene ten years ago.
The
following days were as simple as a cup of pure water: we had a kid; I went into
business and tried to make more money. When the assets were steadily
increasing, the affection between us seemed to ebb. She was a civil servant.
Every morning we left home together and got home almost at the same time. Our son
was studying in a boarding school. Our marriage life seemed to be enviably
happy. But the calm life was more likely to be affected by unpredictable
changes; Andrea came into my life.
It was a
sunny day. I stood on a spacious balcony. Andrea hugged me from behind. My
heart once again was immersed in her stream of love. This was the apartment I
bought for her.
Andrea
said, you are the kind of man who best draws girls’ eyeballs. Her words
suddenly reminded me of my wife. When we were just married, my wife said “Men
like you, once successful, will be very attractive to girls.”
Thinking
of this, I became somewhat hesitant. I knew I had betrayed my wife. But I
couldn’t help doing so.
I moved Andrea’s
hands aside and said “you should go and select some furniture, O.K.? I’ve got
something to do in the company”. Obviously she was unhappy, because I had
promised to do it together with her. At the moment, the idea of divorce became
clearer in my mind although it used to be something impossible to me.
However, I
found it rather difficult to tell my wife about it. No matter how mildly I
mentioned it to her, she would be deeply hurt.
Honestly,
she was a good wife. Every evening she was busy preparing dinner. I was sitting
in front of the TV. The dinner was ready soon. Then we watched TV together. Or,
I was lounging before the computer, visualizing Andrea’s body. This was the
means of my entertainment.
One day I
said to her in a slightly joking way, suppose we divorce, what will you do? She
stared at me for a few seconds without a word. Apparently she believed that
divorce was something too far away from her. I couldn’t imagine how she would
react once she got to know I was serious.
When my
wife went to my office, Andrea had just stepped out. Almost all the staff
looked at my wife with a sympathetic eye and tried to hide something while
talking to her. She seemed to have got some hint. She gently smiled at my
subordinates. But I read some hurt in her eyes.
Once
again, Andrea said to me, Mike, divorce her, O.K.? Then we live together. I
nodded. I knew I could not hesitate any more.
When I got
home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got
something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt
in her eyes. Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth.
But I had
to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic
calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly,
why?
I avoided
her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at
me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was
weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I
could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Andrea. I
didn’t love her anymore.
I just
pitied her! With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which
stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced
at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her
life with me had become a stranger.
I felt
sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what
I had said for I loved Andrea so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of
me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of
release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to
be firmer and clearer now.
The next
day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I
didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because
I was tired after an eventful day with Andrea. When I woke up, she was still
there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep
again.
In the
morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me,
but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one
month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were
simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt
him with our broken marriage.
This was
agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had
carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every
day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door
ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days
together bearable I accepted her odd request. I told Andrea about my wife’s
divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd.
No matter
what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully. My
wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was
explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both
appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding Mummy in his arms.
His words brought me a sense of pain.
From the
bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with
her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about
the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door.
She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office. On the
second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest.
I could
smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this
woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There
were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken
it's toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.
On the
fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This
was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth
day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Andrea
about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the
everyday workout made me stronger.
She was
choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could
not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I
suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could
carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and
bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.
Our son
came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing
his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My
wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my
face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute.
I then
held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the
hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body
tightly; it was just like our wedding day. But her much lighter weight made me
sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step.
Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that
our life lacked intimacy.
I drove to
office… jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid
any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Andrea opened the
door and I said to her, Sorry, Andrea, I do not want the divorce anymore.
She looked
at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said.
I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Andrea, I said, I won’t divorce. My
marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of
our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore.
Now I
realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed
to hold her until death do us apart. Andrea seemed to suddenly wake up. She
gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked
downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet
of flowers for my wife.
The
salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry
you out every morning until death do us apart. That evening I arrived home,
flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife
in the bed -dead.
My wife
had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Andrea to even
notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the
whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the
divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband.
The small
details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the
mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment
conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.
So find
time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that
build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!
If you
don’t share this, nothing will happen to you. But If you do, you just might
save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how
close they were to success when they gave up.
Keep the
comments coming friends
Love always.
Tamie !
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