Easier

by | Sep 27, 2011 | 5 comments

I am still rounding the bend, but I can feel it.  There is an end to this writing approaching.  Every writer sees the end of their project when they are only at the beginning and perhaps this is why I wrote as well.  The abrupt truncation of our family has no end- but these words will.  Maybe there is some solace in that.

Someone I’ve met only once at church but knows my situation through a mutual acquaintance asks me in the elevator yesterday, “But it’s getting easier right?”  “Well, no I wouldn’t say ‘easier.’  I definitely wouldn’t choose that word.  Different…it changes and evolves.”

Don’t ever ask someone if it’s getting “easier.”

These days I think I am hungry and I’ll go get myself something sweet or savory as a treat in the kitchen.  But then when I get there, nothing is appealing.  Especially chocolate- something I used to relish.  Instead, I am perpetually thirsty.  For iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade, any drink with flavor really.  Perpetually thirsty.

The other day something caused me to utter a few words (which I now sadly already forgot) that I realized I hadn’t uttered since I’d said them to you.  You see, when you lose a spouse, you lose an entire vernacular.  Think of all of the things you speak to your spouse that you don’t say to anyone else.

In a kids clothing magazine I see a t-shirt with the words “I MISS U” in big letters.  I seriously ponder wearing something like this for quite a while.  I say these words aloud all of the time, sometimes nonchalantly, sometimes whispered, sometimes crying.  I might as well wear it.

No, I am not thinking clearly lately.

There is the dejavu that I’ve been having so much lately.  Nothing extraordinary will happen and suddenly I’ll have the memory that I have dreamt this scene before and even told you about it- was it in our first Brooklyn apartment maybe?  “I’m in an apartment with our child but I somehow know that you’ve died.  It was horrible.”

There is the feeling constantly that I’m wearing sunglasses with fingerprints all over them and just can’t see reality clearly.

There is the realization that I loathe anything swiss made- even swiss cheese?  I almost can not let Audrey get a scooter that is designed by the Swiss for her birthday because of this.  A friend asks me, “What about IKEA?”  I remind her that’s Swedish.  It’s a joke.  We laugh in our email exchange, “phew…you can still love IKEA- haha.”

Oates, in her memoir, mentions the Gestalt philosophy where one says to oneself, “I choose for my husband to be dead.”  I laugh that anyone would give this a try.  I much prefer the mantra she takes up instead, something like “You have no choice.  This is the way it is.”  This seems more helpful in living.

The only thing worse than the shock and disbelief that your husband is dead is the lack of shock and disbelief that your husband is dead.  The only thing worse than the magical thinking that he might still return and reside with you again is the certainty that he will not.

JAC

September 27, 2011

5 Comments

  1. megan

    "The only thing worse than the shock and disbelief that your husband is dead is the lack of shock and disbelief that your husband is dead. The only thing worse than the magical thinking that he might still return and reside with you again is the certainty that he will not."

    yes.

    Reply
  2. Sophie

    "You see, when you lose a spouse, you lose an entire vernacular. Think of all of the things you speak to your spouse that you don't say to anyone else."

    This had such a profound effect on me just now reading this. I can't stop the tears. I had forgotten/buried/lost all the words Matt and I said to each other. I feel like I've lost a part of my language. And not just what he said, but oh the way he said it. Almost like code words without us ever agreeing to codes. Words if I had seen written or heard from someone else to their spouse I would have rolled my eyes at. I miss how Matt softened me. I miss how we would talk on the phone then when batteries ran out we would switch to skype. I miss I miss I miss.
    xxx

    Reply
  3. Jo Julia

    thnx sophie. dan loved peter gabriel.

    Reply
  4. Rita

    It's been just over 14 years since my first husband died at the age of 27. People ALWAYS ask/say it "gets easier" right?? You're fine now, right?? How did you do get over it? I think because it makes them feel better. As if I'm some kind of experiment for how it's going to be for them if their spouse dies. I remind them that you never "get over it" and people deal with grief in their own way. You learn to manage the pain.

    Reply

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