Posted by:
John Drake
(
)
Date: April 24, 2011 09:11PM
Easter Sunday, eleven years ago, my Morg wife of nine years handed me divorce papers. I remember sitting across from her at my dad's dining room table. She looked "stern". I looked numb. I knew this was coming. We'd been living apart for about six months and this was the first opportunity for all of us to meet on neutral ground. I wanted to see my kids and my dad and stepmom. She wanted to see me.
"You bet we got something to talk about!" She sneered at me on the phone. In person, she decided to interrogate me. "Have you spoken with your Bishop?" "Are you in therapy? (because I was "sick").
I answered "no" to both (because I didn't accept the Bishop's authority and I wasn't the one who was sick). And so I got the papers.
I signed them and we went to a notary the next day. She was crying the whole time. Secretly, I enjoyed her pain. The children, who had gone for ice cream with the grandparents, were clueless.
Later we all went for pizza. When we had a moment alone, my dad asked me "well, are you two getting a divorce?" "Yeah dad, it looks that way." "Well, trust me son, there's life after divorce".
I wasn't so sure. I thought my world was ending. I was an endowed member of the Morg and now look at me. I became convinced that I was lost, that I was cursed, and that God himself was personally offended and ashamed of me. And that stupid slogan "No success in the world can compensate for failure in the home" kept ringing in my head.
Well, things did change, but not like I'd expected they would. They actually improved. I met a woman I was more compatible with (who is a nevermo) and we were married two years later. We've been together for nearly nine years and I've never been happier. I stayed inactive and finally resigned from the Morg, and after doing so, things continued to improve.
So Easter for me is not so much about eggs and bright colors or the resurrection of Jesus (whom I still believe in) as much as it is about rebirth and renewal. The promise that change, although frightening at times, is quite often a good thing. Not to be feared at all, only expected.
Fiat Lux