She looked down at her hand as she fondly twisted the ring on her finger. A sad smile lingered on her lips. She had sworn that she would never take it off her finger and she never had, but now she feared she may have no choice.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she recalled a few years earlier. She had been so happy then, despite the seemingly mundane routine that played out every day. She was doing a job she loved with people she enjoyed working with and a boss who cared about his team. She had a beautiful, cosy home which she shared with her two teenage children and her wonderful husband. Of course everyone got on everyone else’s nerves a lot of the time, but they all loved each other and there were never any serious rows; no one ever really got hurt; and what can you expect with two teenagers around? Her children were doing well in school and her husband was also in a job that he enjoyed and excelled at. They lived a comfortable, happy life; they were neither rich nor poor, just comfortable. They had enough money coming in to cover all of the bills, a few luxuries, an annual holiday abroad and a little to be put aside in their savings. Life was good.
How quickly things can change. It had barely been 2 years since they had first gone to that dreadful place and had that awkward conversation. The snowball of events from that moment was phenomenal. All of a sudden they had phonecalls and appointments day in, day out; money seemed to just disappear; hardly a day went by without an argument of some kind, and they all began to struggle with their workloads. Everything seemed to spiral out of control.
Now she sat in an eerily quiet house that no longer offered any comfort. She was here alone as was now the norm. She hardly saw her children anymore. They had stayed for a little while after that fateful day, but gradually they drifted further away from her as they all tried to deal with it in their own ways. They both moved out, one after the other, and although they had promised to return regularly to visit her, they had both broken that promise rather quickly.
And now here she was all by herself, trying to come to terms with the realisation that she would have to leave this house that had once contained such warmth and retreat to smaller, cheaper accommodation and would probably have to share with strangers in order to split the cost further. Worst of all she could see no other option than to sell off most of her things including all of her prized possessions and, sadly, the ring.
Her future looked very bleak.
