Julia chuckled a bit. "So you have a rupturedappendix to thank for your marriage."
"Well, that, and the Good Housekeeping that waslaying there in the surgical waiting room. If I hadn't read thatarticle about "temporarily divorced," I don't know that thisarrangement would've ever occurred to me. And the most shockingthing is that Peter agreed. If you had asked me, I didn't think hesaw any problem with the way things were. Things are by no meansperfect, but we’re at least working together, rather than being atcross purposes."
Elizabeth said goodbye to Julia in the parkinglot and drove home. She was nervous about asking Peter to switchnights with her. She knew she had to speak up, and unless he hadsomething else planned, she knew it really shouldn't be a bigissue. She wouldn't let Peter make a big issue out of it. This wasthe new Elizabeth. The Elizabeth who stood up for herself. TheElizabeth who was sure of who she was. Okay, so she wasn't totallysure, but she was working on it.
It was hard to believe that the events ofeighteen months ago had totally changed Elizabeth's world.Elizabeth had been so shaken up by her trip up into the mountains.It was disastrous and made Elizabeth question everything in herlife. But she returned from the trip knowing that her life had tochange. She just wasn't sure how to implement it. Then cameHalloween. Elizabeth had thought Sydney's stomachache was theresult of too much Halloween candy. Elizabeth had been frazzledherself and just wanted to get the kids in bed after a long day andnight of festivities. She screamed at the kids to just go to sleep.Peter was actually home and had fallen asleep on top of the covers.He was obviously exhausted from doing nothing on Halloween, whileElizabeth had taken the kids trick-or-treating. The fact that hewas on top of the blankets irritated an already raw Elizabeth, asit made it hard for her to then cocoon herself and keep warm.Elizabeth felt like she had just slipped into sleep when Sidney'scrying woke her up. The little girl was screaming in pain andburning up, her fine brown curls plastered to her forehead.Elizabeth quickly snapped out of her daze, and ran to her room tostart throwing clothes on. She yelled at Peter to wake up. Finally,he did, annoyed that his beauty sleep was interrupted. She hatedhim at that moment.
Through her ire, she barked at him that she wastaking Sydney to the hospital. She was going to call her parents onthe way to see if they would come over and stay with Teddy. Whenthey got there, Peter was to come to the hospital. Then, there werethe hours of agony, waiting for Sydney to be evaluated and finallytaken into surgery. Elizabeth beat herself up that she screamed atSyd to go to bed, instead of lovingly tucking her in. She felt sickto her stomach and torn up with grief. What if that was their lastgood night? Several long days followed, as Sydney had to be takeninto surgery again and again to repair damage and clean outinfected tissue. This, combined with the strange events in themountains a few weeks earlier, made Elizabeth realize that this wasthe turning point in her life. Something had to change. She wouldnot continue on as before.
During the long nights waiting for Sydney toheal, Elizabeth and Peter finally talked about their tremendouslybroken marriage. They talked about their differing parentingstyles, Peter's obsessive control of the household money, and howthey needed to find some common ground. Elizabeth thought that thiswould be the prelude to their divorce. But then Elizabeth read amagazine article about a couple who split custody andresponsibility for the kids, while remaining married. She wonderedif that would be an actual solution. It was very black and whiteand appealed to Peter as a viable solution to the injusticesElizabeth perceived in their marriage. By the time they were readyto leave the hospital, Peter took Elizabeth's hand as they walkedbehind the orderly pushing Sydney.
It was not just Sydney who healed followingthat. It had not been only her appendix that ruptured, but thewhole Zurlo household. Elizabeth had sworn, bent over the hospitalbed, her cheek pressing into the rough knit blanket, that she woulddo better. And she realized that to do better, she herself had tobe better. She had to take care of not only her family, butherself. It meant standing up to Agnes' bullying. It meant speakingout when Peter was ignoring her. It meant taking an interest inherself, including her appearance.
In a small act of reinvention, Elizabeth setabout growing out her hair. She changed hairdressers and waspleased with the results. The color was closer to the auburn of heryouth, rather than the boring and bland dark brown. She took anextra few minutes nightly to organize the clothes for the morning,which afforded her the time to apply more than a swipe of make-upto her face. With Peter's begrudging approval, Elizabeth set aboutreplacing her wardrobe (from clearance items, and discounts, ofcourse). Elizabeth started receiving compliments about herclothing, weight loss, and appearance in general. It made her feelgood, receiving the accolades she so desperately needed. She wasable to accept that they would not come from Peter, so she reveledin them, whatever the source. A part of her still wanted Peter tonotice, but she would take what she could get. She had to laughwhen Julia's husband, Mitch, asked her if her make-over was becauseshe was having an affair. Julia was mortified, but Elizabeth wasdelighted that she would even be considered affair material. Afterthat, Elizabeth and Julia began talking often and were now goodfriends.
Julia knew how things had been and was there tooffer advice to Elizabeth. Julia was a school psychologist, sotheir careers overlapped, which facilitated the friendship.Elizabeth had not realized how closed off she had become sinceSusan moved away. She needed the outlet of friendship. She neededrelaxation and laughter, and her friendship with Julia providedthose things. Julia was the only one, however, who knew howtroubled Elizabeth's
