“Well, it looks like you have made a lot of progress out here.  What are you going to do with all that stuff?”

“Take it with me, of course.”

“You found a place then.”

“Yes, I found a place outside of town.  I think I’ll be happy there.”

“Emy, I know this has been hard on you.  But we have nothing in common anymore.”

“Nothing in common!  Twenty-three years of marriage, two children and now we have nothing in common?”

“I’ve grown, Emy.  I’ve moved on.  I’m still a young man.  I want to be with a young, vibrant woman.  The sooner you realize that I’m right, the better off you will be.  You’ve been afforded a lot of luxuries over the years.  You should be grateful for that and let me have my freedom.”  He turned and started to walk back toward the house. 

“It’s still all about you, isn’t it Richard!  All our married life it was about what you wanted.  Your career, your needs, you, you, YOU!  You destroyed our lives together because you have a middle age crisis.  Yes Richard, you are middle aged.  No matter how many sports cars you buy or how many bimbos you date, you are still getting older.  You say I should be grateful for what I have received.  I was, until you took it away from me.  I have given up a lot to help you achieve your goals and now you dump me.  Well from now on my life is going to be about me.  Someday you are going to know how it feels to be used.  For the next two weeks this is MY house, so get that person that came with you and get out.”  I grabbed a wad of clay and squeezed it. 

Monday morning my desk lay piled with cases and it looked just like it had when I had left on Thursday.  I opened my E-mail.  One of the 246 messages was from HR.  Apparently I needed to take part of my vacation before the end of the month or loose it.

I walked into Grace’s office.  “HR says that I have six weeks vacation time coming and I need to take some of it before the end of the month.  So I am going to take it all.  I need to get away for a while and I need to move.” 

Grace nodded, “Richard told me about Saturday.  Why don’t you sit for a while and have a cup of tea.  He said you were very upset for some reason.”

“Some reason!  That man dumped me for a younger woman and now he is taking my house.”

“Emy, I have to tell you, Richard is an ambitious, ruthless lawyer and he has brought a lot of business to this firm; but I wouldn’t have even hired him if it hadn’t been for you.  You started here before he did and you are such a good paralegal that we didn’t want to loose you to a rival company.  So that is why we hired your husband.  He didn’t make partner on his own either.  I understand that you need some time off and by all means take it.  Six weeks is a long time.  Don’t forget where you work.”