My Best Friend is the Bomb

The Plum: Maureen (my best friend)

Submitted by: Rose 

TX, USA

When I am having a tough day I think of my friend  Mo, and remember that we can make it through anything. This happened almost 15 years ago and Maureen (Mo) is doing awesome now but really went through the ringer. One night, it was a freezing cold day, I will never forget that, I got a call from Mo. On my landline (ha). Her voice was so soft I could barely make out what she was saying. Mo is my best friend and we talked almost every day, so I immediately knew something was wrong. What I could make out was that she was coming over. 

When she got to my apartment it spilled out of her. Her husband of 11years just decided- out of the blue- to leave. She came home from work for lunch like she did most days, and he was home watching The Price is Right, which was really odd on like 12 different levels. When she walked in he just dropped the bomb. He had quit his job the week before (she had no idea) and he wanted to move to Austin- he already looked at apartments. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. They discussed it as much as they could, but his only real reason was that he never wanted the life he had and he wanted to change it before he was too old.  Of course a divorce ensued, as amicable as divorces go. He let her keep the house and dog, and he took off. I think the big thing for her was the disappearance of that feeling that you can take things for granted; she always thought he was going to be around forever and then she did nothing wrong, and he did nothing wrong but that feeling of security was gone for a long, long time.