This Will Be Controversial

Many of you know Aeify.  She was Penny Perfect's wife.

A year ago this weekend, Penny... disappeared.  She was (in male mode) travelling from TN to AL and never arrived at her destination.  I had some very limited contact with Aeify up to that point, but she sent me a frantic e-mail asking when I had last heard from Penny and she explained what was going on.

The next afternoon, the police located Penny.  I didn't ask for details ~ it wasn't really my business.  I had e-mailed Penny a lot, and I was planning on being in TN in the early summer and hoped we could meet.  I was quite envious of Penny ~ I knew Aeify was a wife who not only accepted Penny, but encouraged her and enjoyed her company.

Near the end of November, Aeify sent me an e-mail saying she had something to tell me and it couldn't be through e-mail.  I should call her up.

I knew why.  I hesitated for a couple of days, then called her from work.

Penny had taken her life.

Aeify and I cried on the phone a bit.  I had to hang up.  I felt terrible, I felt terrible for her.

A couple of weeks later, a friend of Aeify's decided she needed a change of scene and he packed her up and drove her to DC.  I met her for breakfast and a walk and a talk.  I was in drab, but I felt it was important to let her talk about what happened to someone who knew about, and maybe understood, the Penny side of her husband.  Most of their friends, of course, knew nothing about this.

It was like we were old friends.

Aeify, to that point, was not much of a traveller.  She lived almost on the Mississippi River, but she hardly ever crossed it.  She had flown one time.  I had one of my periodic trips to Sierra Vista planned, and I planned to stay an extra day in Tucson so I could meet with some of my t-friends (and Liz).  Aeify decided to come and join me.  She booked a flight and a room and we spent Friday night through Sunday morning visiting friends, shopping, dining ~ mostly as Meg, but some in drab.

There's no denying that we both had a great time.

Now it's a year after Penny took her life.  Aeify has wanted to get out of the house where she died before a year is up.  She didn't want to stay in Memphis (I can't understand why!) and one of her choices was near where I live.

Sunday, she's moving to northern VA.  I have a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment.  I had hoped to find someone to share rent and not mind how I dressed around the house.

Aeify will be my new roommate.

I know what you're thinking.  Please calm down.

The boys are OK.  My wife is... well, I don't know what she is.  Her words and actions are contradictory.  My fifteen year old told me "mom thinks it's 'abnormal' for a married man to share an apartment with a single woman."  I asked what he thought and he said "mom also thinks it's 'abnormal' for a boy my age to have a messy room."

I don't know how this will play out.  I do know one thing:

Since I told my wife I was moving out, she never once ~ not once ~ asked me to stay.  I think that's sad.  And it's a lingering sadness for me.

---