Here's the story of Carol Anne Riddell and John Partilla as found in the New York Times.
To me, here is the quote of the article: As Mr. Partilla saw it, their options were either to act on their feelings and break up their marriages or to deny their feelings and live dishonestly. “Pain or more pain,” was how he summarized it.
Another good quote: I did a terrible thing as honorably as I could.
Today, Yahoo reports Mr. Partilla "has some misgivings -- about agreeing to let the Times profile him." Still, they say they were honest with each other and their spouses. As soon as they declared their feelings for each other they went to their spouses--they didn't go off and have a tawdry affair, and Mr. Partilla is proud of that.
I think he's setting the bar kind of low on pride here.
This is kind of like the flip-side of Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." In that song, the man proposes so he can get physical release. In this case there are two divorces so the new couple can get release, you fill in the blank about what kind of release.
So what do we learn from all of this? Nothing our mama's didn't tell us growing up and we forgot while watching Springer, "Keep your dirty laundry off the line!" The happy couple wanted "one honest account" of their relationship to date. They didn't think of it as dirty laundry, but many comments on the NYT web page seem to differ. I guess they didn't have a tawdry affair, but was what they had-is what they have-so much different?
I believe being proud that as they discarded their vows they did it above board is not enough.
Editor's note: Cases of abuse and abandonment are different from what's going on here. That's a whole different ballgame.
Then again, what do I know...I'm a child of divorce and lies about divorce. My sisters have both been divorced and I have been married 13 years after not getting married until my mid-30's. If you get it, please share. Not just the reason for the divorce but the reason for sharing, I'm kind of stumped.
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