“The real reason you go to Vietnam is you accidentally see your soon-to-be ex-husband kiss someone else. At first you think, “Oh, it’s a fling; They’re drunk, it’s a party.” But then he puts his hand on the small of her back exactly the way he used to do to you. It means, “I’ve got you”, and when he did it to you it made you feel safe, and you realize he will never do that to you again. And it breaks your heart again, after your heart was so broken that you thought it can never get any more broken. You thought it was safe but it still somehow finds a new way to break. Because even though you’re the one who asked for this, now that you’ve got it, you’re completely adrift, with no compass or map or sense of where to go or what to do - so you go to Vietnam. You think you might find community, a connection to something bigger, but you don’t. In fact, you feel even more alone before you left. But you survive, you learn that you can survive being alone.
I’m really happy for you Mr. Peanutbutter.“
