Several months ago, I came across this beautiful story through my Facebook news feed and I had stored it in my collections for future reference. Going through my Evernote today, I decided to share this with you here. I am not sure about the origin of this story or the author. But the story is very powerful and touching. I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.
The Story
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.
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 Jane. 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 Jane 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. I went straight to bed and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up at midnight, 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 our 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 every morning. I thought she was going crazy. But, just to make our last days together bearable, I accepted her odd request.
I told Jane 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 Mommy 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. On the way down 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 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, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane 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 the 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. Jane opened the door and I said to her, “Sorry Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.”
She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. “Do you have a fever?” she asked. I moved her hand off my head.
“Sorry Jane”, I said, “I won’t divorce. My married 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.”
Jane 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 Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon. She wanted to save me from whatever the negative reaction from our son would be, 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.
Over To You – Share Your Thoughts
If you enjoyed this story, please share your thoughts. Please share any experience or even a story that is similar to this. Your story may add value this post.
You can click here to visit the comment section. Thank you kindly!
Wow!!! what a nice story from your collections, I like this realistic story line by line and the same time I would like to appreciate the message from the story.
Thanks to Mr. Kumar
Glad you enjoyed it Ranjan ji. It definitely is a story with a great message.
A very nice and touching story Kumar. Thank you for such a nice blog which reminded me of caring my wife from a new angle though we have spent over thirty years of life together.
Thank you very much 🙂
The story was really interesting one. It has given one lesson to learn which we can stop to take any drastic step.
Yes Sanjay. The lesson is really awesome! Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Hi Kumar,
I remember reading this story quite awhile ago.
It is a very telling story. As humans:
1) We often we take our eyes off what is truly important under the guise of happiness elsewhere.
2) We often take others for granted, much too late.
3)We need to be more kind, considerate. We need to BE LOVE.
Kind Regards,
Bill
Bill,
Beautifully put words of wisdom. Thank you for putting the message in such precise manner.
Regards,
Kumar
Enjoyed reading this awesome piece of your work.And learnt good lessons too.
Thanks for sharing !
You are welcome, Ankit!
Touching indeed, and life transforming!
Yes Indeed, Ime. Glad you enjoyed!
I’ve read this story a while back but I still find it very touching & powerful. The message is,it always pays to treasure & nurture what you have. It saves you from wrecking your life & someone else’s you once love. And also why restart another relationship when you already have an ongoing love-investment in place. Continue to water & nurture that love-relationship to keep the love-flame burning.
True words, Erlinda. Thank you for sharing such powerful words.
Thank you for sharing Kumar. What strikes me most about this story is the healing power of touch. So often we try in our personal relationships to resolve things with words – to “talk it out,” and often it just doesn’t work, and you just become more upset and convinced of your opinion instead of forming a connection.
Through a discipled approach to intimacy they were actually able to resolve thier relationship problems. This reminds me how studies have shown that smilling can make you happy. Touching can make you closer. So often when relationships have problems we stop being intimate and this is bad, because intimacy can be the solution.
For example next time you are in an arguement try holding hands and see how things change.
Yes Marion. I think that is a great point. The power of touch. That is the reason we are less excited watching a video of a person when compared with meeting in person. The touch has an incredible human touch to it. Thanks for sharing.
Wow… I wept while reading this. I can’t believe she died!
As soon as I read the part where he buys the flowers I started crying. I couldn’t help the I’ll carry you until death.
Thanks for sharing this.
Wow! It takes a heart full of love to feel the pain. Thank you for sharing your thoughts Sebastian. I am glad to see that you enjoyed this story.
This is an awesome story. I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for the share!
Hey man, I just can’t believe that how beautiful story it is! Importantly there are lots of valuable information are available in here about divorce related issues those are really important for everybody’s life. So before getting divorce I will tell everyone to read this story and will understand everything very clearly. Heads Up!
Great story, thanks. A friend of mine have died from cancer and from that time something has changed in myself and I started to value the real relationships and the life much more than before.
Thanks!
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