Divorce and Remarriage Story from Author Ben Bryant


This semi-harrowing tale is not really about

divorce and remarriage

but it is an excerpt from the book with that theme. In January 2008 we went to Oregon for ten days to house sit for Elizabeth’s friend Louise’s in-laws. What follows is no aspersion on Louise or her (then, now not) husband Gary. They did their best and were excellent semi-hosts.

“The trip had an ambiguous beginning. When we arrived at the United Airlines counter at LaGuardia to check in we were informed that our flight had been cancelled. However the heroic ticket agent got us on a flight with another airline that put us in Denver in time to make our connection to Medford. (I sent an email to UAL commending this fine lady.) There being no cheap seats left on that flight we rode business class. So far so good.

“Our host Earl met us in Medford and drove us to our home-away-from-home for the next eleven days. He’s a doctor, retired quite young, and as the founder of the Medford hospital’s emergency room he was a local celebrity in the medical community. When we arrived at their secluded house … we met his wife Lee, their cat and dog with whose care we would be entrusted. (The cat and dog’s care; not the wife’s)

“We were informed that the entire house was Feng Shui and given very specific instructions as to the proper maintenance of this condition. The dog and cat had not been informed. … We settled in for a relaxing week and a half.

“That evening we hiked through the woods to Louise and Gary’s for dinner. I’d only met him briefly at the wedding and had no sense of him as a person. By the time dinner was over we felt like friends, I liked the guy. He was a FedEx pilot. Did you know they had their own Air Force? Anyhow he showed me his land-a-huge-airplane software which was extremely cool. I crashed one. No packages were injured. … It was gonna be a fine getaway.

“Yeah. Right.

“The first problem was … the twenty-four hour flu. That hit me on the second day and put me out of commission for a bit longer than the nominal time. And as I was recovering it hit Elizabeth the next day. Louise and Gary were very good caregivers, delivering – I’m not kidding – chicken soup and other analgesics but at slightly offset times we were both miserable.

“That afternoon Elizabeth was in the sun room on the Mac and I was on the couch. She said that she felt like she was gonna barf and headed for the bathroom looking a bit wobbly so I chased her but before I caught up she passed out and crumpled to the floor. She sort of bounced off the edge of a chest-high sideboard before her head hit with a thump at the edge of a carpet which covered the stone surface. She was out cold and there was blood. I got a damp cloth for her forehead, put a folded towel under her head and called 911 then Louise. She was out but Gary materialized in a trice with first aid stuff.

“We made Elizabeth, who had regained consciousness, as comfortable as possible and waited for the ambulance. Neither of us thought we should move her. … First came a fire truck then an ambulance both vehicles manned by extremely competent looking people. I followed the ambulance in Earl’s car.

“Once we arrived [at the hospital] Elizabeth got the royal treatment. She was, after all, staying in Dr. Earl’s house so she was a VIP. … They did every test known to medical science and determined that (bad news) EH had a broken left collarbone, (good news) no concussion and she didn’t need sutures in her scalp. The other good news was that she forgot all about her need to barf. This vacation was getting better by the minute.

“So we had seven more full days left in the wilds of Oregon and Elizabeth was in nearly constant discomfort if not outright pain. Just putting on a shirt or jacket was a three act play.

Elizabeth's Glow

You’d never know Elizabeth was in pain from her glow.

“Looking at it all in a positive light, we were over the flu and could enjoy food again. But aside from that we were ready to exchange the hills of Oregon for the canyons of Manhattan. This had turned out to be if not the vacation from hell, then at least the one from purgatory.

“Friday January 25 was a happy day as we headed for the airport. … Elizabeth’s injury got us a free upgrade from the cheap seats so that was good.”

You’ll find more details about this trip and tales of our divorce and remarriage plus many other adventures we shared when you click here and get Waiting for Elizabeth.

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