Did you know that I live on Wisteria Lane? If you think I'm being facetious or if you think I'm lying, here is photographic evidence:
After forty one years of marriage, Madge Lindstrom left Lou Lindstrom and moved into a house across the lake. From the outside, they appeared to be doing fine. Every morning at 7:00, like clockwork, they would go out for their morning jog/walk together. Every October they threw an Oktoberfest block party to beat the band with brats and cold beer on tap for everyone.And then, suddenly, or perhaps not, Madge packed her car with a few personal belongings and left.
Nobody really noticed she was gone, not for a while. Not until the next Oktoberfest, which she dutifully attended and even helped host, when she told us nonchalantly that she had moved out and lived across the lake.
What makes a couple stay together for forty one years and then call it quits? Wouldn't you think that by the 25th or 26th year they would have figured out that enough was enough? Does this kind of thing just sneak up on you, or had they been planning this for twenty five or thirty years?
Did one of them have an affair? Did Madge just wake up one morning and look at his fuzzy hair with the thought dawning on her that she simply wasn't happy? Did she endure and endure and endure and then at last say, "That's it! I'm done!" Perhaps Lou finally had had enough of her nagging about the toothpaste tube or the toilet seat and told her to get out? Or maybe something occurred that gave them the courage to finally end it, even after forty one years.
Was it a quiet, prolonged desperation? Or was this desperation sudden and sinister?
.
39 comments:
Uhm, there are lots of questions here from you, and what I am wanting is answers! What gives! I would have gotten the details right away! Now that you have taunted me, the only thing you can do is march right over there and get the story! Jeeze, leave me hanging like this! What gives? Maybe he bought viagra, and now she hates him! Four hours is a long time you know. Go find out!!!
I don't know what to tell you - when I divorced my ex-husband, 99% of our friends were STUNNED. Everyone thought we had the perfect marriage. It was far from it.
All I can say here , is "Who knows?"
Just them.
I find it amusing that my "word verification" for this post is "shamm".
Jan's right... you never can tell what's going on after the doors are closed.
(my word is monser... maybe he's a monster?)
I'm with Predo...be the nosey neighbor and go find out darn it!
What I find odd is that she just moved "across the lake" AND still came to the Oktoberfest party. If it were something so awful and sinister, wouldn't she have gotten the hell out of dodge.
Maybe he snored. I know that would do it for me...well, I wouldn't last 41 minutes let alone 41 years. Maybe it was something else.
Some folks are the slow simmer type that can take it for a long, long time. Maybe they stayed together for the kids? pets? mortgage?
I'm melting ...how can it be 97 effing degrees in April!!!
What I'm wanting to know is what is your most favorite Edie Britt memory?
its likely they hadnt gotten along for years and just wanted to wait until the kids died.
Um, shouldn't you be giving us the answers? Of course if you have either Lou or Madge's number, I'll be happy to call and ask these questions for you. Is it nicer on Madge's side of the lake?
quiet, prolonged desperation.
that was good. really good.
i bow to your word/phrase prowessness.
Maybe he used to tap dance when she was trying to sleep, and she thought, "Well, I can deal with this for 40 years, but if it goes beyond that, I'm outta here," and it went beyond that. Frankly, I'm surprised she lasted 40 years. That's a pretty impressive length of time to go without good sleep.
Well, your going to find out the answers to these questions aren't you? This whole idea has always fascinated me because I have seen this happen...it just goes to show that we don't know what goes on behind closed doors. People can appear to be just fine and even happy and then just like that, they shock us with news like this.
Maybe the only time they ever spent together in those 41 years was the morning walk and the Octoberfest party. Then he retired and they found out they don't really like each other, or that they got on each others nerves. That happens.
Or, as in my own parents case, my mother got tired of getting beat up at his whim, and of him having trashy girlfriends one after the other. They divorced after 32 years of marriage. No one was surprised.
Oh, and you know, I loved it when my husband snored. I was a single parent of three children for way too long after my own divorce (after only 7 years, I got out early). When FabGrandpa and I started sleeping together, he snored really loud. The first night, I laid there all night listening to it as if it were a symphony, because it meant I was no longer alone. Then, when he had cancer on his tongue, and had the surgery and radiation, he no longer snores. I miss that snore now, because it not being there is a constant reminder that he is mortal and will leave me someday. I really would like to hear that song again.
Well... you started this story and now you're going to have to finish it. Go over there and knock on the door.
...
...
I'm waiting.
...
...
You're going to have to move a little more quickly. I am not known for my patience.
...
...
Fine, just make something up and post it tomorrow.
That's a lot to think about. I feel sad for her. Or maybe I feel sad for him. Definitely him. Boys need more help in life : ). From what I have seen any way...
My bets are on the toilet seat! You should be a cartographer...
I'm sure she finally just got tired of waiting on him hand and foot. I don't know how my MIL does it.
Forty-one years later? Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of another woman.
Seriously? Maybe she's visiting her sister in Boise. I need to believe that she's coming back. I need to have hope for enduring love.
If you ask my mom, she'd say "she stayed 11 years too long!" Yeah, my mom and dad called it quits at 30 years.
Unhappy is unhappy. And it doesn't matter how many times you redecorate the house, how many vacations you take, or how many grandkids come to visit, at some point, the discontent eats away your soul until, one day, you wake up and say, "It's been real. Later!"
At least that's what I've heard.
Da Goddess
dagoddess.com
I'm always baffled by that situation, too. And have the same question, "It took you 25 years to figure this out?!" Then again, my parents have been married for 35 years and I would be unsurprised by their separation. I think a time comes in people's marriages when they're just left with each other and there are no kids, no finances, no careers and no reputation that will make up for what they *don't* have in common or feel for each other.
I think she left to avoid Dan Brand and the Cranes and The Jensen's. Really, you have some kooky neighbors. :)
I would wonder the exact same things you did! While I'm happy that they didn't drag the nasty stuff out for the world to see, it still makes you wonder.
probably it was the husband's halitosis and pot belly, combined with his recent viagara prescription, and she was like "f##k this!"
(just guessing here, have a nice day in sunny CA!)
Forty-one years later? Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of another woman. And maybe it's Madge who has the other woman!
I knew a family like that once. The wife finally after all those years, came out.
Maybe Madge is still affectionate with Lou, but just decided to get the life she really wanted (I really believe this, no matter what the reason)
Such stories always boggle my mind. But I think I would rather not know the ins and outs of it all. There is something better about guessing. There is something better about not knowing the breaking points.
My word verification is "stama", obviously code for "stamina", which means Lou couldn't keep up with Madge's needs (ifyouknowwhatI'msayin') anymore. Bye bye Madge.
Did their kids finally move out????
I was hoping one of the prior commentors would tell me what's amusing about Wisteria Lane. Is it in a movie or something?
Anyhay, I blame menopause for the break-up.
Jason, Dear, please don't keep us waiting. We must know the rest of the story.
BTW, your photographic evidence ROCKS!
I'm kinda impressed with Madge for still helping run Oktoberfest, and for filling the neighbors in. Gutsy and diplomatic = good.
I always wonder about the multi-decades-long marriages ending in divorce myself. It would be neat to be able to understand the insides of people better.
40 years.
My guess is her coffee sucked.
peace
#2
But, was the annual Oktoberfest any fun?
I think it's sad. 41 years. I hope there was a glimmer of happiness in there somewhere and that they didn't both waste that many years being unhappy. And, I hope that in their apartness - they are happy now.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
I can think of only one solution to all of these unanswered questions ... take her to lunch, get her drunk, and start asking questions. Repeat with him. Tell us. xoxo.
ps ... My Mom left my Dad after 44 years. One day I picked her up at my Aunt and Uncle's after they had argued over him being drunk, again. I said to her, "Mom, you really don't have to do this anymore." She never went back.
My parents got divorced after 36 years of wedded bliss . . . high school sweethearts . . . I was an oopsie/shotgut/join the air force baby and all that jazz . . . and believe me I never saw it coming.
They still talk just about every single day . . . so someone please tell me what the heck is going on?
I mean with your neighbors, not my parents, I already know they're both crazy!
;-) I've been catching up reading your blog today. You're as hilarious as ever. I just LOVE The Jason Show.
How sad.......
Post a Comment