I’ve been single before . . . How hard could it be?

More than twenty years of marriage over and done—done and done, I tell you! It took less than ten minutes total. A few canned questions by an indifferent judge and a string of assorted divorce documents flung under pens in the ready hands of my ex and me, and almost a quarter century of life as I had known it was finished. My lawyer and my ex definitely laughed all the way to the bank, as I drove away from the courthouse with a heavy heart in my chest and a light wallet in my purse—truly a hollow victory.

The next morning I recalled the apathetic final words of the judge, “I declare that you are now both single adults.”

How was that possible? I’d been a married adult all of my adult life . . . married more years than I had been single. None of that mattered now, it was a done deal. The judge said so.

I repeated to myself, “I’m now a single adult...I’m single.”

After a few moments, I asked with confidence, “I’ve been single before. How hard could it be?”