Divorce in Walnut Grove
I never imagined this could happen to me.
It had happened in this town before. Not too long after my family and I moved to Walnut Grove, Mr. and Mrs. Oleson got a divorce. Mr. Oleson moved out of their home after having enough of his wife's disrespectful attitude towards him and the other people around them. The townsfolk tried to help the couple settle their differences, but had no luck in keeping them together. The tension building up between those two strong-willed people had finally hit its breaking point. Mrs. Oleson moved back east, taking Nellie and Willie with her. Mr. Oleson was left to run the mercantile on his own.
Nellie and Willie did have the chance to visit their father and old hometown a few months out of each year, much to their mother's disliking. In a way, I miss having those two around. Life in Walnut Grove became very dull and uneventful after they moved away. I guess I will always considered the two of them as friends, no matter how much they got on my nerves. To this day, Mr. Oleson still runs the Mercantile, with help from whoever is looking for work that time of year.
I thought that the Oleson family was going to be the only family I would ever know who went through a divorce. Unfortunately, a few short years later, it happened again. After financial troubles followed the burning of their barn, Mr. and Mrs. Garvey also separated. This effected me much more, because I was old enough to understand what a divorce actually meant and because Andy Garvey, one of my closest friends at the time, had to watch his parents split up.
My ma and pa were asked to be the witnesses to the Garvey's divorce. They told me that it was the worst thing they ever had to sit through. Mr. Garvey left Walnut Grove that day, leaving Mrs. Garvey and Andy on their own, even if he did send money back from time to time. Andy was never the same after that. He always looked up to his pa and wanted to be just like him, even to this day. He has gotten into some trouble for drinking and fighting in school recently.
I thought the days of splitting up and heartbreak were finally over once I met Almanzo. The first time I laid my eyes on him, I knew he would be the man I would someday marry. And I was right. Our wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life. If only I had known. Sure, we had been through some rough times before we finally wed, but we always somehow managed to pull through. I tried to heal our relationship, because I loved him then. I do not love him now.
I am finally able to see the real man Almanzo Wilder truly is. He is a lying, tempered, disrespectful, conceded, controlling man, who I never want to see again. The bickering fights between us were one thing, but the unfaithfulness is what hurt me the most, and doomed are marriage. I was jealous of Brenda Sue. She is prettier than me, older, more accomplished and higher-class. Almanzo told me that he never had an affair with Brenda Sue and that he never even liked her, but I do not believe him. I do not believe a word he says to me anymore.
Ma and pa tried to get us to work out the problems in our marriage, just as they had tried to do with the Oleson's many years ago. I would not have it though. My days of admiring and dreaming of Almanzo Wilder were long gone. I am a woman now, not some doe-eyed little girl dreaming of a fantasy. I have goals, real goals that do not include Almanzo Wilder. Like teaching out of town.
I moved back in with my family in our little house. You never realize how much you missed a place, until you return. I let Albert keep my old bed and I slept on the floor of the loft. One night, after everyone else had fallen asleep, Albert commented to me how I was not acting as upset about losing Almanzo like I had the pervious times. I used to cry about him before, but now I look back and all I see are wasted tears. Tears, dreams and time I will never be able to get back.
I saw Almanzo one day in town. He noticed me, then walked away in the opposite direction with a disgusted expression. I would have done the same if he had not beaten me to it. I tired to think back to the times when I loved him, but that only seemed to lead to the bad times when I wished him out of my life. I realized that as long as I lived in Walnut Grove, I will run into Almanzo again and again. So, I began looking for a new teaching job in the city, far away from where Almanzo Wilder would ever go. I just have to wait for the new school teacher to arrive, then I am gone.
Our divorce is planned for next week. A circuit judge has agreed to meet us at the schoolhouse to finalize our divorce, just like with the Garvey's. It is going to be hard to sit across from the man who stole so much from me. I wonder if he is going to try anything? Then again, why would he want me to stay if he has perfect Brenda Sue? I just cannot wait for this phase of my life to be over and done with.
I cannot wait to be an Ingalls again.