“I think I’m learning to ask what I need before promising everyone else what they need.”

“It’s about time,” she replied, and we both laughed.

After the call, I cleared a shelf in the bedroom and placed several books I’d been meaning to read beside a vase of fresh flowers.

I wasn’t replacing a husband with objects.

I was making room for the person I’d become while trying so hard to maintain a marriage.

The room felt unfamiliar for a while.

Then it began to feel like mine.