Three hours with my ex

I spent three hours with my ex Friday evening at her office, showing her how to do things like use a web browser and Yahoo! Mail.

She had always been toward the heavy side, beginning about a year after we got married (1987? 1988?), but she is now probably past 300 pounds. I was shocked that she had gained so much weight since the last time I saw her, but as she pointed out, that was two years ago. For some reason I had been thinking that was just last fall.

People complain about their exes, but I tell people my ex is a saint, and she is. We should probably not have been married to each other in the first place, but we were together ten years and she is a decent, caring, honest person.

On these occasions when I spend time with her, she's like a person I remember seeing in a movie or on TV. That's not the best description, but it's all I've got. That whole time of my life - the marriage, the TV job, living in Edmond - seems like something that happened to someone else and that I only read about.

There's no question that I have fared better in the years since our split than she has. I'm financially more secure, even though we parted on equal terms financially. I think I'm in better health and leading a better life.

I feel some guilt that I have done so well and sort of left her behind. When I stop and think clearly, I know I can't fix her life for her now any more than I could back then, but the rescuer in me still wants to try. She deserves a better life than she has had.