A Bare Naked Living
“Once I was free from the marriage, I had nothing to fall back on.”
Michigan | February 2005 to October 2007 | By NATALIE M.
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Where Jesus Was Hiding“Shortly after her endless walk, my father will change the locks on the doors and discard anything that belonged to her.” It Don’t Matter To Me“The night after his father’s burial, both grieving and finally free, Stevie went cruising for men. It was his first time.” Aftermath“I actually thought that if I were the perfect, glamorous housewife, then maybe I would get that feeling of something being wrong with me to go away.” Freedom Comes with a Bucket of Chicken“It had been a typical Mother’s Day. After the usual flurry of cards and gifts bestowed upon me in the morning, the kids went their own way, and hubby went off to the basement to play with his miniature racing cars. I began the task of cleaning house.” | Somewhere between sweeping the floor and washing the dishes, a rage began to well. Swimming LessonShe taught her daughter to swim this year. It’s the best thing she has ever done for her, besides giving birth to her and nursing her for as long as she did. This is also the year her daughter learned what “divorce” means. The year she learned to live in two new “houses.” Ciao, PapaEven at 6, she sensed tension. Her father was always talking about opening a restaurant of his own but never took action. Mother moved up in her career, eventually nabbing a transfer to Rome. He stayed behind in Seattle. The divorce became official after their 11th anniversary. I Find Him Laid Out on the Floor of the GarageTo witness the nervous breakdown of your own child is no different than watching cancer devour a young body. Depression is a powerful disease that can render the strongest parents paralyzed. This was his first encounter with a clinical breakdown; it is not for the faint of heart. Chasing RainbowsBack in the day, he’d drive her around in his shiny black jeep and they’d look for rainbows. Sometimes, a rare beam of sun would flicker and dance in his eyes, illuminating his face with a dusky glow. She was like a puppy, looking for rainbows around every corner. The Actual FlyingSeventeen years married. She wakes up. Her husband is a stranger to her. They have their own bedrooms. It seemed like a good solution to certain conflicts at the time. But something compels her to wake up in the middle of the night to go to his room and lie next to him.  |
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