Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This week on TALK! with AUDREY : My guest is LAURA MUNSON, the author of THIS IS NOT THE STORY YOU THINK IT IS: A SEASON OF UNLIKELY HAPPINESS.
In the summer of 2009, The New York Times, had to temporarily shut down the comments section because of the overwhelming number of reader responses to an essay titled “Those Aren’t Fighting Words, Dear,” for the “Modern Love” column she wrote.
Laura Munson, a writer who lives in Montana, wrote the essay in response to the following words she heard one day from her husband of more than two decades: “I don’t love you anymore. I’m not sure I ever did. I’m moving out. The kids will understand. They’ll want me to be happy.” Laura touched a nerve with her essay, provoking thousands of responses from a remarkably diverse group of readers with her unexpected approach to crisis.
Munson’s account did not turn into the story you might expect—a divorce story, or a begging-him-to-stay story. Instead, after recovering from the initial shock, Munson calmly told her husband, “I don’t buy it. What can we do to give you the distance you need, without hurting the family?” Four months later, her marriage was not merely intact, but stronger than it had ever been.