Our therapist has news and advice
We’re still seeing our therapist. She started the session by saying “I know this is a difficult time, but I need to tell you that I’m relocating my practice.”
“And that you’re selling your house for a million-two?”
She was a little startled, and it was a little snarky of me.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I Google(1) everything. I’ve known for a few weeks,” I said.
“He’s so proud of himself,” Beth says.
We talked about how to tell the boy. Tell him together. Work out the script ahead of time. Anticipate his questions, but it’s OK if he doesn’t have any. Reassure him that Mom and Dad are still Mom and Dad. That Mom and Dad are still friends. The we’ll always be there to take care of him.
“And one more thing,” the therapist says, “try very, very hard not to cry when you tell him. If you do, he’ll feel that he has to take care of you.”
We’ve decided to wait until after his birthday. There’s never going to be a good time to do this. No matter how we do it, it’s going to be terrible for him. When he gets older, though, he can tell his girlfriends: “You know what my parents got me for my seventh birthday? A divorce. Assholes.”
We both oscillate between anger and acceptance. We talked about Beth ditching Shabbat last Friday.
I said, “I don’t know if it’s possible, but in the end I’d like us to be a family: me, Beth, and the boy. Only Beth and I aren’t married.”(2)
After the therapist, I went down to Target to get a few things: paper towels, soap, and toilet paper. It’s odd what one thinks are the essentials. There is nothing in the house. I turned up the fridge, the heat.
I poked around to see if there was an open WiFi station in the neighborhood. No luck.
Called the gas and electric to set up my account.
I stopped by again tonight after work to measure the rooms. The house has a smell I can’t identify? Humid? Or is that no one has cooked in yet?(3)
Tomorrow have to call the cable company and the phone company.
Google was still a highly regarded tool in those days. Their slogan was still Don’t be evil. ↩︎
I really used to believe this was possible. I’m really embarrassed that I was so naive, but I didn’t know then what I know now. ↩︎
Remember whan Beth asked what was wrong with the house? It was in low-lying area, and the basement was always damp. What I did not know at this time was that there was a not-quite-failed septic system that would rear its ugly smell some eight years later. ↩︎