Stories from The Moon / Cuentos de la Luna

This is how you love someone who doesn’t love you anymore. This is how you speak to someone who doesn’t listen to you. This is how you forget someone who doesn’t remember why he married you. This is how you contact your lawyer in a language that feels clunky in your mouth. This is how you smile in pictures with his family when they don’t know the truth. This is how you look at him when he goes upstairs, and the food gets cold. This is how you show up to class and hold it together for almost two hours. This is how you call your mother and tell her everything is fine. This is the place you can go to when you allow yourself to cry. These are the forms you need to sign to cut off his last name like a piece of loose string from your favorite dress. This is where your stuff is; this is where his boxes are. 

This is how to sit next to someone at their grandfather’s funeral without holding their hand because the we that you two used to be is gone, but you’re still there for them because death is common ground. This is how you ring your friend’s doorbell and drag your heavy suitcases, Hydrangeas, Orchids, boxes heavy with books, the good reading lamp, your photo albums, your coffee machine, the vacuum cleaner, and your dog into their home, just for a couple of months. This is how you remain calm when the veterinarian insists on calling you Mrs. Someone instead of only Miss You. 

This is how you pronounce divorce in German. This is how you pronounce single in Swiss-German. This is how you make an appointment to get a new passport in Spanish. This is how you buy groceries for one. This is how your name tag looks in your new mailbox. This is how you politely exit the family’s WhatsApp group. This is what you can send his parents for Christmas without sending mixed signals. This is how you wrap a wedding ring in a soft cloth to give it back. This is how you look now after losing what you had vowed to keep. This is what you can say when they ask you, but, what went wrong? This is how you finally tell your mother the truth.