This evening, at a community Halloween party, an older woman pulled me aside, and with deep concern in her voice, said that she'd heard that I was having difficulties. Tears welled in her eyes, and she asked what she could do for me. Of course, there is little that anyone can do, and when I said as much while expressing my thanks for her care, she said, "I've been where you are. It happened to me too. We were married for ten years, my oldest child was in the first grade." She squeezed my hand and said, "If I had it to do over again, I would have fought harder for my first love. I would have stayed and stuck it out. My husband now is good to me, but a part of my heart will always be with my first husband, the father of my children."
She couldn't know how much hope she gave me with her words. She will never know how going through this hell thirty years ago gave her the compassion I so desperately needed tonight.
