Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012

Today, my divorce was made final!  Wasn’t sure if that would be possible or not.  Used to be that a couple could have a court date set for the judge to hear their divorce, and if all was in order and the terms agreed upon, the divorce would then be signed off right then and there. 

But that changed back in July when LA County lost three and a half million dollars in their budget and needed to put the shortfall…somewhere.  That shortage was dumped in the lap of the family courts that handle divorces.  As such, it’s no longer the norm to have a divorce, “walked through” and signed off on the spot as I outlined above. 

Instead, a couple signs their papers, sends them to the court, where their file gets added to a huge stack of other awaiting cases.  There it sits for anywhere up to six months until someone gets around to reading and signing it off.  Course, the couple has no way of knowing when that read and sign of will take place, so their lives, financial decisions, etc, get put on hold during that waiting period.

How special…not!

My ex and I decided that wasn’t for us, wanting to expedite things.  So we found a workaround.  The result was that the court set a date for our hearing, which was today.

Yay!

But…there was still a chance the judge would decide to not sign off on our divorce, making us wait until…until…who knows what reason he would have chosen.  But all was in order with out paperwork.  The Ts had been crossed—twice—along with all Is being double dotted.

LOL.

My ex and I weren’t taking any chances for a delay.  So, holding my breath, I signed into court, got sworn in and hoped for the best.  It came time for the judge to address our case.  He did and decided all looked well and fine, my ex and I had come to acceptable terms and were in agreement that this marriage needed to end.  So, that’s what the judge did.  With a flourish of his pen, a wave of his hand and a smile on his face, he announced that my ex and I were to be returned to single status.

Woohoo!

Never had words sounded so good!  It’s been a looooooong journey to get to today’s court hearing and sign off.  All emotions were felt, despite my ex and I doing our best to make ours as amicable a divorce as possible.  Seemed a huge task after having been together for thirty years….  But we were determined to take the high road for the sake of our children and selves.  After all, we didn’t want to add to an already difficult situation.

So, simple as that, we’re divorced.  In the words of my older sister “seems kind of odd.”  She was referring to the fact that I’d been with my ex for so long that now it seems strange to think of me…on my own.  She’s thrilled and glad that I’m happy and doing well, but still…my being single seems…odd…in a good way, though.  As for me, now it’s time to go out and explore this new life of mine….