Member-only story
What If The World Was Kind
After divorce I realised what I’d been missing
When I left my husband a year and a half ago I was expecting a backlash. I expected him to be upset. To get angry. I expected fights over childcare and household things. Over money, of course. I expected and got all of those things. I expected a bit of unkindness from my ex. That was understandable. People do and say things when they’re hurting. What I didn’t expect was unkindness from other people.
About a week after I left, I tried to text a close friend. I’d been there for her a lot over the years — she even came to live with us for a while when she was having a really tough time in her life. She’d moved out of town but we were close, I thought.
I messaged. Nothing. I called. Nothing.
A few weeks later, she came to town for a visit. She visited my ex. Played with my kids. Saw other friends of ours. Didn’t contact me once. I thought it was pretty weird. My ex even thought it was weird. We’d been such good friends. So he text her to ask about it.
“Just wondering why you haven’t contacted Kelly. You used to be good friends?”
In reply, she blocked him.
Sometimes we think that if no-one sees, being unkind doesn’t count.
