Time moves on…imagine a wavy screen that in movies and television often signal a time change…now journey ahead about 40 years…

Last year…after a four-hour session in the dental chair…I had a small stroke and a few months after that…I had a massive seizure…

This nonsense was followed by the not completely unexpected exit of Chuck,  a rather dull and narcissistic husband who couldn’t quite see his way to dealing with either…not that there was much for him to do…or not do.  I have always been rather self-sufficient.

But still…one does expect something during times like these.  Apparently “in sickness and in health” was a marriage vow to which he hadn’t paid much attention.

It is relevant here to also mention the tennis lessons Chuck had started taking a few months  before my stroke.  It is incredibly amusing that I had never known…after all these years of marriage…that Chuck was interested in learning how to play tennis…but apparently it was a “life-long” dream of his.

Enter Sally Merriweather…young, blonde and sporting a cute little pony-tail…was the new tennis instructor at North Shore Country Club.

This is the same club that Chuck had insisted we join a few years ago.  “I need the contacts I’ll make there for my job!” he had explained.  Chuck worked for Lake Superior Luxury Autos in Duluth…so I guess he had a point.

I wasn’t much into the “country club” scene…but I did enjoy the reciprocal play that allowed us to play other private golf courses in the state.  Chuck and I used to play together a lot…until I started beating him on a regular basis.   He soon decided he didn’t have that much free time anymore to spend on a golf course.

Apparently “playing tennis” was not such a time-consuming sport…whatever.

Now enter Rollie Moore, my devoted, long-time friend and brilliant lawyer, who had amazingly secured for me a financial settlement that ensured me more than half of our assets, a hefty monthly alimony check (which I didn’t really need, but which seemed appropriate nonetheless).

He also secured a clear deed to our home and also the luxury cabin further up the Gunflint Trail in northern Minnesota…both of which I had inherited from my parents…so that was essentially fair.

In a foolish hurry to move on with his ‘new and exciting life’…ding-bat husband Chuck quickly signed the divorce papers…dreaming only of the freedom and joys of a single life.

Remember Sally…the tennis instructor?  She was gone in less than four month…along with the keys and the title to a brand-new Mercedes Benz and several very glitzy and expensive jewelry items…all courtesy of the love-struck Chuck.

I had heard from Nancy, the owner of  “The Sweet Shop”…the best bakery you will ever walk into and the penultimate source for the latest gossip in Rocky Point… that Sally’s  “diamond tennis bracelet” was truly “blinding”.

Karma can be such a bitch…