And so begins 2019 with divorces. In the weekend of January 6, Kim (B) suddenly hears from his wife that it is over. The love is over, at least there is another, the relationship is over, and if it goes as she planned, the children will also pass over without too much resistance. Right.
The following evening a woman appears at the door of yet another Kim and my sister. The woman is the wife of one M, a flame of my sister’s that has been burning for years and hits the pan that evening. Conversations follow, my brother flies in, prayers are said for 2 sweet children, and in the end Kim manages to pull out of my sister that she doesn’t want to go on either.
Pretty smart actually, how I write down in a few lines how certainties come to an end. To a child’s world. To all the adventures that build up to old age, together.
When Kim (B) couldn’t sleep, he called me. It was noon in China; in Austria, where he recovered for a few days, it was early morning. At such a time it is nice to have friends who live in a different time zone. I usually don’t catch in-depth stories from the old world. My parents are my news channel for affairs in the Netherlands, I rarely hear more than the headlines.
It is striking that information I am given about what happens, has little impact on my existing impressions or memories. Does that mean that absence of surprise would allow me to look into the future? No. Coincidence is impartial. And unrelenting for the 2 men named Kim, in the first weekend of 2019.
Written on January 16, 2019