The Year I Became Independent

Independence Day always makes me think about the year I actually became independent, which is a strange word to use since it happened right here in Reno with help I didn't expect to need. I left a marriage that had been quietly hollowing me out for a decade. Standing on my new apartment's balcony that first summer watching the fireworks, I felt something steady settle into the empty space where the marriage had been, like I wasn't actually alone in the rebuilding the way I'd assumed I'd be. I've felt accompanied through every hard year since. It took everything I had. I'd do it again.