ABSTRACT
Choosing a restaurant where we'd shared many happy times, we laughed, cried, said good-bye, and celebrated the end of our marriage. Elizabeth is certainly off to a good start. If we want to end our relationship with grace is, in itself, an act of grace. Congratulations, we're on the right track. She had several significant relationships before her met Maureen. Looking back now, she can see that, while her struggles toward grace, the ending of each of those relationships were not only graceless; it was often merciless, clumsy, undignified even mean. Because the relationships themselves lacked sufficient love, or awareness, or willingness, their endings naturally reflected that. We seem to be ahead of the game by wanting to terminate this relationship in a conscious manner with all the elements of a graceful ending in place. Our heart, Elizabeth lacerates. We may need time out to integrate the shock and to stabilize our emotions.
