October 13. It keeps Cropping up in my life. I note it's passing each year. Not for any really good reason, I just seem to remember it. When I was young, High School, it was marked as Chris Carter's Birthday. He created the X-Files and then named the Production Company 1013, for those of you who do not have my levels of geekiness. It is for this reason that I chose the date in 1997 to petition the Dialectic Society of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for membership. I gave a speech on the need for hugs in modern society. Oddly enough, I get them now. European society, or at least what I've seen of it, is much more physical with greetings and salutations. The embrace and kiss on the cheek that Americans just don't do in the same way. I imagine I will cling to that affectation for a good while, like I will try to maintain my British pronunciations. I've always been a bit odd, anyway, so it won't be too out of character for me.
October 13 usually goes by with little more than a thought and a nod. In 2007, I remembered 10 years since I first petitioned, and in 2008, it was on a Monday again. It was the re-opening of the ADC Theatre. A new Stage, a new Rake, a new addition, a new Theatre. I went to see the Show marking the reopening, but I was knackered and the wine was flowing freely, so I remember little of it. I do remember being an ass, a flirt and saying things that I shouldn't have said. I do remember the row that ensued between my now ex-wife and I afterword. If pressed, I would mark that as the beginning of the end. Not that I realized it then, of course, but it marks the wobbling of the house that we built. There were cracks before then, but every building develops settling cracks as it ages. It took another month for us to really break. We tried fixing it, but the damage was too great. The past year has seen the lot cleared and yesterday the last of the rubble was taken away.
October 12, yesterday. The hearing in front of the courts for the dissolution of our civil partnership. Unless something was terribly out of order, it will have been accepted and passed with all the rest. A faceless piece of paper in front of a nameless judge who banged shut the door of an 8 year relationship. I imagine it sounded like a gavel.
October 13, today. The lot is cleared, and after a 6 week cooling off/ dust settling period I can think about building on it again. There's nothing left for me to do, hasn't been since August, really. I have to wait for her to submit the final forms, wait for the certificate of dissolution in the post, wait until I can come back home to England. It's over. I've gone from a Mrs. to a Miss. I can't say I'm happy about it. I am relieved it's over.
October 13. Today. A new day. A new lease.
