Divorce After 24.5 Years #

After 24.5 years of marriage, Mary and I pulled the plug and filed for divorce. We had been drifting for years and neither one of us were truly happy. Mary had a vision of what married life should be for her, and I have not been able to give her that. I was moving deeper into my new musical hobby and I never really felt a lot of support from her on this venture.

While the wild fires of Los Angeles were burning wildly and my family and friends in Canada were afraid for us, our home was never in danger but we were in the middle of burning up our lives. I moved into a Motel 6 in Newberry Park because my Doctors were all in that area and I had a bunch of appointments. It was kind of crazy because there were days and nights I was without power and had to walk across the highway (using the overpass) to do my work at a Starbucks that did have power. The hotel provided us with glow sticks so that we would stop pissing on the floor.

I did see an apartment listed in some apartment search site that was just down the same block as my current employer so I put in the time and effort to secure it. I did get it but I did have to write a letter to the landlord about why I would be their best choice as a tenant. I didn’t really know what I was really getting until I got it secured. These weren’t really apartments, they were condo’s and that was why I was dealing with a property management company who collects the rent and takes care of any maintenance issues, but they were not the land lords. Less than 40% of these condos can be rented out according to California law.

Most of my neighbors are responsible home owners so it is a higher class of people that live here who care about the place they live in. Good people, you don’t have to worry about packages being left in front of your door. It is a gated community of 14 buildings and over 3000 people living here with a guard at the front gate and regular security people on patrol. It has tennis courts, basket ball courts, 4 swimming pools and a full gym. It really is like living in a resort that is safe from anything that might be happening in the valley.

I left the house that we shared since 2018 to Mary in exchange for a few things that I needed to get started. She kept both vehicles as the truck that I drove was inherited from her Dad. This was fine as I did want to simplify some things. I am within walking distance from my office and an easy walk to 4 grocery stores and only about a 50 minute walk to my favorite Vegan Grocery Store and Restaurant. When I need a vehicle I am within walking distance to Enterprise Car Rental. In some ways I think I got the better deal. The maintenance and property tax of the home on 2.5 acres of land is a lot, but Mary does have a good job and I am sure she can make this work. I did not want this to be crazy fight were neither of us get to live in the house that Mary really put in a lot of design genius into. This was always her dream and I know she is still proud of that as she was giving tours and talking about the renovations to this very day.