Life Hack: Break Up With Anyone Who Ruins Your Favorite Book
Pay Attention to How People React to Joy
Joe and I met when I was thirty-seven and I was consumed with panic that I was never going to get married or have kids. (Spoiler alert: I never got married or had kids). It didn’t help that Joe was gorgeous, half Armenian, half Irish with dark hair, beautiful skin, a deep voice, nice chest, and an incredible jaw line. We both loved hiking and being outside. We both loved to cook, and the sex was hot. (Or so I thought, until I started reading his emails, a story for another day).
He was it. I had him, so I didn’t need to chase, but I started doing other crazy chase-like things like planning our wedding without telling him. I didn’t actually call any venues or spend any money, but I did have a folder on my desktop with cool places to get married in Michigan, where he grew up and talked about constantly.
I fantasized while stopped at red lights about succulent centerpieces, wondering if I would regret not having standard roses. To be fair, he did the same thing. When I was about to buy a new mattress, he told me to wait. “We’ll be living together soon.” And with this one sentence, I was pushed over the edge into delusion.
Because I lost my mind in the pursuit of marrying Joe, I ignored important things. Early on Joe told me he…
