estrangement

Jennifer was enjoying life, despite some milestone disappointments. Her 25 year marriage to Richard had foundered just after they moved away from the sea to a regional city in Victoria. Richard did not transplant well and he descended into a sombre depression. He became distant and eventually they separated. At 65 Jennifer embarked on a new life as a single woman. She had had plenty of practice, as she and Richard had not married until she was 36 and he 42. They had not had any children and, although Jennifer was disappointed about this, she had somehow overcome it, by nursing the strangely comforting thought that the looming situation with environmental decline and overpopulation would have been a burden on any children she may have had. A further disappointment was that her family had fallen away after the deaths of her parents and, although she made supreme efforts with cousins, she had only a sparse, although valuable, array of family still in touch.