It takes a while, or I should say it took me a while, to learn that others don’t always see the world as you or I may expect.
People tend to make assumptions about each other and situations and outcomes based on their own contexts and experiences.
And be wildly wrong.
Loss of a loved one, a life-partner, must equal grief – is a fairly safe assumption.
Or so I thought.
A woman in her 70s sat near me in a coffee-shop. There were a few indications that she’d engage in light conversation. After a little small talk and talk about her family and some reflections on her recent travels she told me her husband of 50-plus years had recently died.
I expressed my condolences.
“It’s a relief, really,” she said, “I’d tried for years to get out of that marriage. He was a very difficult man.”
difficultrelationships.com 