At the beginning of my time "alone"--which was not by choice, I could not imagine that my life would recover from the uncertainty, the rage, the self-hatred that came from being told after a 43 marriage that I was toast. I perceptively I regained my footing. We were separated for 5 years and came together in a very different way. I was thrilled every time I said, "Oh no, I did it this way now." The first time he said, "You've changed" it wasn't exactly complimentary." I said 'thank you" and if you want to stick around, you need to keep remembering it! Thanks for your story,