It had been twenty-five days since Evelyn’s husband was court-ordered to vacate the marital residence; five days since he actually vacated. The only trace of him left in the home was an old pair of running sneakers he had tucked away and forgotten in the mudroom, much like how he tucked away and forgot his marital vows.
Evelyn thought the sound of silence would be unbearable after her husband vacated their shared home. She thought the silence would creep in like a thick fog, hanging around as a permanent reminder of a marriage broken by betrayal. Evelyn anticipated that she would feel like an imposter walking the halls of the marital home she’s lived in for 30 years and across the floors her three, now-adult children learned to walk on. She wondered if there would be a lingering apprehension that her husband would walk through the front door smelling of another woman’s perfume again. Evelyn feared the silence would further tighten the knot around her psyche.
However, to Evelyn’s surprise, she experienced none of these things. The silence had created a fortress of pleasant bliss. The silence allowed her to do what she felt she was unable to do for so long—breathe.
The days of Evelyn fighting with her husband over anything and everything were—mostly—things of the past. Gone too were the nights Evelyn was kept awake by the sound of her husband on FaceTime with his paramour, listening to him offer the same empty promises he had fed her over the last 30 years. Evelyn could finally shed the shame she felt as her children watched her continuously sharing a space with someone who had deceived her for three years.
What Evelyn thought she would experience was the sound of silence. What she was actually greeted with was the sound of peace. It is this peace that would foster the strength Evelyn needed to navigate her divorce and embrace the new beginning waiting for her on the other side.