Time in a Vial
By Catherine Berresheim While others were baking sourdough bread and bingeing “Tiger King” episodes, I spent the bulk of 2020 relitigating a divorce settlement, fighting for my rights as a single woman, negotiating the high-risk safety measures needed to prevent contracting COVID, and avoiding arousing more suspicion and jealously in my ex-husband. I have to admit that the Safer at Home mandate that was issued midMarch to flatten the pandemic curve came as pure relief for me. I was teaching 18 hours: five classes at the community college, and one college credit-bearing course at a local prison. In addition to the usual academic demands of being a full-time professor, I was dealing with some personal challenges as well. My white blood cell count was below normal since recovering from a bad case of pneumonia the previous fall. The state of Tennessee Department of Correction executed one of my students in midFebruary, and I was struggling with that complicated grief. Even though I had not yet been divorced five years, my ex-husband chose this time to take me back to court to petition to end his alimony obligation. He did this because we I do not want my accidently crossed paths on only accomplishment Groundhog Day walking on my to be my patience in neighborhood greenway. I was there with the guy I’m dating, waiting my life away. who happens to be an old college friend of ours. As we passed on the narrow trail, his girlfriend explained to her teenage daughter, “That’s his ex-wife and his ex-best-friend.” Three weeks later, the court order arrived. My ex claimed I was living with my boyfriend, and that I didn’t, therefore, need alimony anymore since this man was most likely supporting me. His attorney sent 23 questions, or interrogatories, and a request for production of supporting documents. It ran 30 pages total, fishing for 43
