Valentines Day, 2009

I was married to my ex-husband for 12 years and dated him for 5 years. We got married on September 11 in the early nineties, and our divorce was final, court appearance and all, on February 14, which as you know, is Valentines Day.

Valentines Day has always been my favorite holiday. I am not a holiday fanatic, I have no use for Sweetest Day, because it's not about love, it's about commerce. But, for the love of God, if you are romantically involved with me, your ass better not ever forget Valentines Day.

This year is the fourth anniversary of my big epic divorce. The first year, my mother had to scrape me up from the floor. The second year, I was obsessed with what he was doing with his new girlfriend on my special day. The third year, I thought about how he always bought me Whitman Samplers, and then I realized that's some really shitty chocolate.

This year will probably be the last year that I give it any thought at all, because I'm ready to move on. So, I would like to do something I haven't done much of in the last couple of years, and that's say something nice about Ken, because we had some really great years together.

1) I snore like a 300 lb. man with a deviated septum, I mean, friends get up in the middle of the night to sleep on the couch so often, I keep blankets in the living room. Ken slept by me every nite for 17 years and never said a word about my snoring, to the point where I never even realized that I did.

2) No matter what went wrong, Ken was always there to rescue me. Be it car trouble, keys locked in the car, bad weather, bad health, whatever.

3) He always kept my car really clean.

4) He let my mother stay with us for months at a time. Sometimes he would bring her Hershey Bars and newspapers, which are my mother's two favorite things in life.

5) He used to wash my hair for me after I had surgery, which was pretty gorey, considering the 60 or so stitches I had in the back of my head.

6) He was always so proud to be married to me, and bragged about me to anyone who would listen.

Here's to love both past and future. I don't think that someone has to die for a marriage to be considered successful, so I'm leaving this era behind feeling good about the time we spent together. So there you have it.

Valentines Day, 2009

I was married to my ex-husband for 12 years and dated him for 5 years. We got married on September 11 in the early nineties, and our divorce was final