I got home one night and, as my wife, Amy, served dinner, I held her hand and said, "I want a Divorce."
She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words. Instead, she softly asked me, "Why?"
I avoided the question and this made her upset. So, I admitted I was having an affair with a woman named Jane at work and that I was no longer in love with her.
The next day, with a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement stating that she could keep the house, the car, and a 30% share of my company. She glanced at it and tore it to 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 done.
She finally cried loudly in front of me, "We took vows to each other."
She was heartbroken, which is what I expected to see, and the idea of divorce felt more real now.
I got home very late the next day, I had spent some time with Jane. I opened the door to fine Amy writing something on the table. She presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but requested for that the next 30 days we live a normal a life as possible.
Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month, and she didn't want to disrupt him with a broken marriage.
She also asked me to recall how I had carried her on our wedding day, and requested that I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door every morning for the month's duration.
I thought she was going crazy, but to make our last days together bearable, I accepted her odd request.
We were both pretty clumsy about it when I first carried her out on the first day, but our son was joyfully clapping his hand behind us, singing, "Daddy is holding Mommy in his arms!" His words triggered a sense of pain in me.
I carried her from the bedroom to the living room, and then to the door. She closed her eyes and softly said, "Don't tell our son about the divorce." I nodded and put her down outside the door.
We weren't as clumsy on the second day. She leaned on my chest, and I could smell the fragrance of her shirt. I realized that I hadn't really looked at this woman for a ling time. She was not young anymore.
There were fine wrinkles on her face, and her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its 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, our sense of intimacy was growing again. It became easier to carry her as the month passed by, and I suddenly realized that she was getting very thin.
One morning it hit me how she was burying so much pain and bitterness in her heart, and without really thinking about it, I reached out and touched her head.
Our son came in at that moment and said, "Dad, it's time to carry Mom out!" To him, seeing his father carry his mother out had become a essential part of every morning.
My wife gestured to our son to come closer, and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might start changing my mind. I carried her in my arms, and her arms naturally wrapped around my neck. I held her body tightly, just like on our wedding day.
On the last day, when I held her in my arms, I could hardly move a step. I knew what I had to do. I drove to Jane's place, walked upstairs and said, "I'm sorry, Jane, but I do not want to divorce my wife anymore".
It had all became very clear to me. I had carried my wife into our home on our wedding day, and I am to hold her "until death do us part".
I got home, flowers in my hands, and a big smile on my face.
But my wife was dead.
It turns out that she'd been fighting cancer for a few months now, but I was too busy with Jane to even notice.
She knew that she would die soon, that's why her final request was so important to her. She wanted our son to see I was a loving husband and that we were together until
"Death do us part."
