All Comments on 'A Very Unhappy Birthday to Me'

Some of the dialogue around the smashing of the globe was brilliant. I would have liked the story to go on but neither of the two 'endings' worked for me. Thank you.

People who are mentally ill can do some really bizarre stuff and have not one clue as to what they have done.

Did he at least get his threesome?

I actually found it quite an engaging story, but I'm not sure how her total misinterpretation of his old threesome fantasy or her complete inability to see she'd done anything wrong could be blamed on schizophrenia. I guess the signs were all there that she had problems, with her OCD about cleaning and her bizarre rules about anal only being on his birthday.

The snow globe analogy was great and her solution to replacing the shattered one in the second ending was clever. If they'd "cured" her mental illness, then she probably would be quite a different person, especially if meds were involved. If the husband spent the last two years taking advantage of being single, then I could see him being willing to give her another chance.

Finish the story or don't finish it. Don't get to 'your' ending, then rant about not finishing it and then give 2 ridiculous endings. 1*

I could not understand the story. She seemed too stupid to be believed. Then, I think you offered an explanation so that the woman standing at the door seemed real and three dimensional. Thank you for that. It was a hard story to read, but it ended well.

I liked it for its originality. Getting tired of reading the same old cheating wife STORY. Nice effort. Thanks.

Mentally ill does explain it, but seems like he would have seen some prior indication of it.

Not a fan of multiple endings.

Four stars.

Insane or not, she's not going to give him his "birthday anal" just because he was late getting home through no fault of his own? On a trip caused by her brother's screw up?

And if she had his fantasy prepared, shouldn't there have been another woman there?

Another victim of The Martian Slut Ray?

If she was mentally ill, I'll take number two. But only if he will go back and mess up the two assholes who helped her.

Glad you got her diagnosed.

I'm disappointed you didn't give the two fuckers their due for taking another man's wife, especially a mental one.

Interesting story however.

My thought was that this was a pick at threesome fantasies: guys picture it as having an extra woman involved, while women are more likely to want the third person to be another man. You sort of went there, but didn’t quite tighten it up.

.. as it was too long. By about two pages.

Trying to explain away a character who is that oblivious with mental illness is just laziness on the part of the writer. I know everyone here is trying to find their own spin on the "wife so oblivious to the obvious something must be wrong with them" schtick, but seriously, how stupid must these male characters be to marry and stay with people who just go insane at the drop of a hat?

At the end it comes out. Your ending #2 makes the most sense, because when he answered the door "she smiled and she was as beautiful as ever", sealed the deal. She got help. And then she was describing how she tried to fix the globe, so now the healing can start. I give this a 9.

Thank, God.

So what happened to Charles and Richard? Don’t how they fit into his organization.

Assume the brother was fired?

4-stars.

Somebody turned the Martian Slut Ray up to eleven.

plots that hinge on the impossible stupidity of the errant wife just don't do it for me.

I gave it four stars, because of ending two. Without ending two, to explain how a woman could make such a "mistake", it would have gotten two stars. But the dialog was excellent. And I liked that he wasn't a wimp. Look forward to your next post.

...the multiple ending was not.

This is just another stupid story about an impossibly stupid cheating Wife written by an impossibly stupid man for impossibly stupid BTB loving men. Listen your wanna be story is substandard and mediocre. Don't be fooled by useless praise from useless authors like that Reed asshole, he is TNT truly not talented.

Seriously, I didn't need two ending for this story. I don't mind them (I even like the fact that those ending aren't mutually exclusives and can/should be viewed as a continuation of the story), but if SleeperyJim ended it all with his MC walking, that would have been fine.

As everybody knows, there's a lot, A LOT of unfinished stories on this website, a lot of tales that ended abruptly without any apparent resolution. It's not the case here - unless you're severely imagination-deficient , you already know for certain that this marriage is over. What the author added in his endings wasn't really surprise - so yeah, Anne's crazy... tell me something I don't know! If you read enough LW tales, it will eventually damn on you that most of those cheating wives aren't the emotionally and/or mentally stable individuals out there. What the 'loving wife' here did made absolutely no sense, so, unless Martian Slut Ray is an actual problem in this universe... she's nuts. She probably shows, thorough their marriage, how unstable she was before, but, because the MC obviously only viewed her through the goggles of his love for her, he didn't see it... 'til it was too late. As for all the other issues related to their breakup, even those problems had obvious solutions: her brother AND Charles & Richard will definitely get the axe very soon (the way he explained his job, the MC is, at the very least, a manager in his company; so, for two employees to actually fuck his wife in his own bed, with witnesses around... yeah, that's definitely an offense that warrant dismissal; as for Anne's kin, he obviously only still have his job because of his brother-in-law, and, since they're not going to be family for long... See - all the BTB you can handle, without the help of the author to spell it out to you!)

I guess mental illness would warrant an attempt at reconciliation, given that there was love between those two before everything went to shit. My biggest problem with the two endings, however, was the lack of attempts from the author to make it very clear that his MC tried or has moved on from his failed marriage. The second ending, in particular, makes it sound like he pretty stayed stationary, and therefore celibate, the whole two years since his marriage died. I'm not down with that - don't understand why he should punished himself for the sole crime of being a good father and husband. Anyway, that's what my imagination is there for - he dated, got laid, but wasn't ready to, once again, commit himself... There - fix it for myself.

Keep on writing, author - I like the way you think. ★★★★

I would choose the 1st ending. Otherwise, an ending #3, where he jumps in his big rig and plows into the house. He didnt hit the brakes and he was shifting gears, mamas in the graveyard papas in the pen. (Garth Brooks) . Pretty good story though. Thanx!

Loklie

A frustratingly dumb story! No wife can be so stupid as to think her husband will be OK with her fucking two other men,guys he works with no less. A fantasy they'd discussed before they were even married that involved a 3-some with the two of them and another woman and she interprets that as her fucking two other guys? Cheating,betrayal,manipulation,etc,etc,etc! And then even though that warped bullshit was supposed to be for HIS supposed fantasy on his birthday she fucks them anyway when he can't make it?! WTF?! ~ Forget the 2 add-on "Endings" after the story! She wasn't mentally deficient,but rather just an unfaithful,cheating turd of a slut! Dump the twat and move on!

26thNC hit the nail on the head.... The two that took advantage of her needed to meet a baseball bat - and to think they worked for him too. Once it was discovered she had a mental issue he did the right thing in ending 2.... ending 1 was just stupid, she had a mental problem committed to a hospital and he would still inflict the pain of a divorce after the was fixed - that ending was wrong and showed a side of him that was never in the story. ending 2 was more within his nature but lacked revenge for the three men who took advantage of her/relationship.

Big story holes: what affect this had on their young school-age children?. What about her parents - mental family history? What happened to her stupid brother? What happen to the two paramours? The best this story could earn was 4* and that is generous.

A flash story; with details trimmed out to make it short and intense.

Well done - I read through it three times, admiring the artistry.

To spell out the obvious to you anonimi: the details of what happened to the two guys and other stuff were left out to concentrate on the important thing; the relationship.

OCD generally increases over time but is treatable; there is a “impulsiveness” brain hormone and an “obsessiveness” hormone and the former gradually declines over time. Boosting the former (together with HRT to stimulate the brain) VERY carefully can make a remarkable change, IF the patient is lucky.

...except for the additions 1 & 2 after the ending of the story. Like the previous commenter, "very intense" story. But for myself (just saying), the mental illness excuse did not quite dovetail to conclude this story. Seriously, I more than liked this story. I gave you 5 Stars. Very dramatic LW's story. I hope you continue to post more stories in the LW's category. Cheers.

I think I followed the main part of your story; she gave him his fantasy and can't understand why he's pissed.

Ending #1 revealed her true mental illness and that he will divorce her if she's ever discharged (found sane?). I'm not sure I like stories where one of the actors is insane. BTB does not sit right in my mind.

Ending #2 she still has a lot of bad things going on in her mind and rings his doorbell with a replacement snow globe and he invites her in the house.

Maybe I lack the basic skills necessary to appreciate a good story. My apology but only 2 stars.

I HATE stories where the author can't put in his own ending, but flakes out by putting in multiple choices. If you'd announced this at the beginning, I would have skipped your story and not voted it a "2*".

It was too unbelievable anyway.

Your very first ending was just, however the last ending was also just. Keep writing.

But she didn’t seem truly sick.

I guess... her weird response about no anal play on the day after his birthday might count as a sign of true ill mental health, but only kinda-sorta. Then couple the weird way she equated an MFM threesome, with hubby there, to an FMF threesome, without hubby... if she TRULY didn’t understand the difference. MAYBE she was mentally unbalanced.

But the furor over butt play, in and of itself, seemed like she was just a bitch. And the MFM vs FMF difference, in and of itself, seemed she was just making excuses to cheat. It just not clear enough. Though I guess if she was forcefully sent to a mental facility for a year-plus she must have truly been sick. I suppose that’s proof enough.

I can only give this 3-stars.

I think that the author did a good job of describing the behavior and mental processes of someone who has something like schizophrenia. An exact diagnosis isn't important, but it clearly appears to be something serious and biochemically based, not one of the bogus things "counselors" in these stories "uncover" (e.g. she had some unpleasant experience as a child, her "needs" weren't met, she needed "closure" from some prior relationship). The second ending was creative, a surprise, and incredibly poignant. If someone reads it and isn't touched, there's something wrong with him. That's a mark of good writing. I've seen slick, but formulaic writing here get high scores time after time. This deserves a 5

Jim painted an interesting story that could go the way of btb or raac depending on the authors’ leaning... maybe invite others to forge ahead with alternative endings.

I liked the story as it had an unusual premise and personalities, especially the wife

Gold is purified by fire, and no doubt she suffered during those two years, especially the 2nd of them.

What if he still refused her?

I like to think they found the way back to happiness

Like the second better. She made a great analogy on the sno globe. Dealing with mental health of a loved one is heartbreaking. A two by four across the head wont work even if it makes you feel better. :) great stuff.5

action speaks louder than words ty for the read

Him leaving in the car was the best ending. If you felt compelled to add to it, a sequel would have worked better than either of the alternate endings.

I liked your story with the first ending, and really liked the second, but didn't like the last one at all.

Otherwise, keep up the writing.

I was wondering how you were going to wrap up this story. I will admit I almost stopped reading it since it was little far fetched to me. Glad I did not stop. The endings brought the story all together, one would of worked but two was much better. I thought ending one where he would divorce just as she got well was way cruel although I guess it fits sorta in the BTB type story.

After reading the Anon comment about cuckold I can see why we anons are blocked so much.

Two thumbs up ↑↑

What I don't know is what he does on Monday at work. Well, besides firing his brother-in-law. He certainly can't work with the other two clowns. It sounded like he has a responsible position and it doesn't tend to work out having to cooperate with co-workers who have no respect for you. If they are superiors and you complain then you get the dirty end of the stick forever. If they are your equivalent or subordinates, they are convinced that there is no penalty for however they treat you. Anything that is important to you at work becomes, to them, less significant to them. They believe that you'll just take it.

she makes up rules, in her own head.

no, they don't make sense....but once she internalizes them....she follows them.

her marriage vows were never in those rules. she's just that stupid.

but when he presented her the snow globe analogy...she internalized those rules.

THAT snow-globe was, in her mind, the only way to fix her broken marriage.

I actually visualize her scrambling for months and months trying to desperately put pieces of the snow globe together with glue.

she didn't understand it was an analogy that said, 'it's over. never again.' so that was interesting as all get out. thanks for that.mental illness isn't easy to deal with. the girl i planned on marrying had even more severe mental illness. it wasn't bad when we dated, but got worse and worse. when she started doing hard drugs in secret....it went off a cliff. i put up with a lot of her b.s, but the cheating got her a swift boot in the ass.

she's a pretty miserable shell of her former self noowadays. it's rare people even remotely like the character you described get help. or that the help sticks. relapse is the rule, getting better is sadly the exception.

Put me in the Ending 2 category. I’m a sucker for a good reconciliation.

Thank you for writing!

The alternate ending idea is just bullshit

split personalities doesnt exist. and the only way for ending 2 to work is if he also went through some type of help which isnt stated here, makes it an incomplete story. nice try though, love ur conversation stories.

So you seem to accept that the wife character was acting crazy. The problem with a crazy character is that they loose all empathy and interest. Who cares what they do, why they do it, or any other aspect of their behavior? They're crazy, so they can do anything without logic or understanding, and we are supposed to just accept it. Makes the whole story ridiculous, or just obnoxious.

Crazy people doing crazy shit that fucks up their lives. Happens every day, for any or no reason. Not much drama or suspense reading about what crazy people do.

Thanks for the effort.

...I usually try to be more circumspect and generous in my comments.

This one was poorly conceived and even more poorly executed.

Yes, I know all the arguments and it is your story, so I should just shut up and move on.

But, while very well written as are all of your stories, it was so far removed from any reason or reality....I simply couldn’t engage. It was like watching a bad version of a Twilight Zone episode. Nothing made sense, nothing worked and both alternate endings were dependent upon our accepting the assertion of wifey’s mental illness.

Sorry, she didn’t exhibit behaviors most often connected with mental illness and she didn’t come off stupid or vapid enough to get away with the “misunderstanding” coin.

As I’m sure you well know, one of the tenet of good story-telling requires the author to offer a device or means for the audience to suspend disbelief long enough to get the story told and the point (s) made. Declaring mental illness MIGHT have worked if you had committed the time and effort to tell a version with a mentally ill wife.

You did not, so it fell on its face.

Thanks, but in this single case....no thanks.

Moving on now.

I thought she was too stupid to be believed, but maybe as nuts it is believable.

I prefer a third ending: He wakes up, realizes it was all a bad dream, and draws his wife to him. I'm always rooting for happiness.

Quite an interesting tale involving mental illness. While serving in the US Navy I worked on a psychiatric ward. I never trusted any of those patients. Ever. I don't see the husband ever trusting his wife again.

That said, the issue is, " for better or fo worse" . Loyalty, respect, responsibility, honor, integrity, those qualities that make a good husband, just how far does thst apply when your spouse is crazy as a loon?

*****

That was a really good illustration of what the wrong interpretation of a fantasy can have for effects! The two endings give everyone an opportunity to read "their" story! Very well done!

Had an assumption of where this story was going to go, and it did more or less as far as the dance show went. Even the 7 year old Hellspawn saw it coming. I really enjoyed the writing but the ending just didn't work for me, it was just too out of character for Michael with the way he felt about infidelity. Frankly no matter how much he loved Raven I can't see him being able to marry her after she admitted to pulling a train with 30 guys, airtight and all. Then again I can't see any normal woman being able to handle that many, all ducks in a row. Besides what guy would even want to be even number 5 in that line, I can't even want to try to imagine what cums after slimy thirds. I may have missed it but did anyone have a case of condoms in their back pocket? But as she was open and honest about it as well as it happening before he even knew her I guess I can accept that he was able to. But there is no way that it wouldn't be lurking in the back of his mind. This was well explained in the beginning of the story when he was trying to deal with her dropping the dance show bomb on him. He did have an interesting way of bringing her to her senses even though it did cause him some public humiliation, it would have been a lot worse if the videos had shown up out there in the public view. Seems to me that Loving Wives would have been a better genre though, unless the Non-Consent was referring to him. But as the last line of Part 4 said "Welcome to my universe!"

I'm no expert on dialects but had a great time with her brand of the English language and no problem understanding her at all:

Two quotes that were perfect, just bloody perfect:

Feckin' eejit!"

"I'm not actually quite sure what an eejit is," I confessed.

"I'm not saying eejit," she stated. "I'm saying eejit! I.D.I.O.T. -- eejit!"

"My dad used to tell me that we should always call a spade a spade, but that it wasn't really necessary to call it a feckin' gobshite shovel!"

Only one small nitpick, the formatting went to hell for a bit in the middle of Page 4.

Signed: BTW

As a general rule, I dislike multiple endings. In this case however, I feel like it lifted this story from a 4-star to a 5-star. Thank you for sharing with us.

ok schizophrenic, thats an excuse. and then the whole in sickness and in health clause.

OK

excellent writing

I don't buy EITHER of the two "endings," BOTH excusing her actions with mental illness.

Even a mentally ill person can understand that a "birthday anal" should still be given the next day. What if he WAS home on his birthday but SHE was too ill? If he does the right thing and leaves her in peace, will she not do it because it's no longer his birthday?

Good story, but not enough fag-cuck-shit, and shit.

HardDaysKnight 2.0

She was nuttier than squirrel shit. She's history. And any author who tries to please everyone by writing multiple endings pleases no one. 1* for cheapening the story.

Your comments on mental illness are ignorant

She will do the last thing an adult she knows tells her no matter how wrong it is.

We have to be extremely careful of whom she is with

Therefore I loved ending 2

She gave him $10, a party and a fantasy...?

In this fantasy she said he had (that she gave him), are we to believe his wording was "As a fantasy i'd like *you* to have a threesome" or is it more likely he'd said "As a fantasy I'd like *us* to have a threesome"...?

Even if he'd said it a lot, no way it was "you"... in which case she *didn't* give him *his* fantasy...

"Hey wife, I know you've always fantasized about traveling to [fill in the blank]..."

"So, since you weren't in the car when I went to the airport, I took [anyone else] on the trip. Hope you enjoyed your fantasy trip."

Yeah, that would go over well, right...?

Schizophrenia cannot be cured; it can only be managed.

The children cannot live with this person, as it would destroy them eventually--even if it did not destroy him.

You wrote:

"The one you are holding can -- if you want -- represent your trust in me as a completely new person. I'm not the same person I was before. That woman has changed so much she might as well never have existed. So I'm asking you, as someone you've never met before, if you can forgive that old crazy person and then forget about her. I wondered if you wanted to learn about this completely different woman who somehow already loves you from afar, starting right from the very beginning. I mean dating, and getting to know each other, and perhaps we'll eventually be in love with each other and then we can see where it goes.

"So -- as a woman you've just met, I'm asking if you would give me your trust freely, although I am asking."

When she was done her touching story, I just slowly and gently closed the door on her, as I retreated into the sanctuary of security that was my house; MY HOUSE! And as I sank to the floor just inside my front door, I leaned against the wall in the front hall so as not to collapse onto the carpet. There would be no trust. Just as she had never been able to fix our globe of trust, a substitutionary globe was not going to fix our relationship. The new globe, by definition, represented a substitute person; not the broken wretch I saw before me today.

My life--and my children's lives--had been restored through countless hours of counseling and nurture-filled family time together. No; this monster was never to be allowed out of the closet again. If I ever were to allow this, it should be me seeking psychiatric counseling for insanity--right beside my ever-loving, dear wife...NOT!

“Thank you for the globe. You’re right, but just as this is a NEW sno-globe... please meet my new wife, Anna-Marie.”

. . . him wanting an MFF threesome as fine, but her wanting an MFM threesome is awful, horrible, just wholly unacceptable.

I agree with you that the story ends where you said it should, not a year later. It is, first of all, your story and you control where it stops and starts. I wonder if the character development could have been stronger to suggest the character flaws that control the actions and conversation of the two. But as I said, it is your story.

THANKS

I Told You Not to Marry My Ex .. But You Thought She would be faithful to You ... At Least You had 1 Guy who had enough Class to tell You what happened ..

Okay, this whole situation is insane, but . . .

"All marriages were compromise." - "Compromise" would have been letting him have her ass even though it was a day late.

@RR, it had NOTHING to do with MMF vs FFM. It was that she had a MMF, WITHOUT him, to supposedly fulfill his FFM fantasy, which included her.

It was never said, but I'm guessing that she gave the guys his birthday anal as well.

I liked all the endings, even the original one where it just ended, allowing the readers to imagine an ending. Well done.

In Golf a Mulligans is allowed, that is ONE (LOL) two is not fair, ps did like the 2nd ending somehow if you mention Mental Illness my heart goes out to the sufferer.

Your writing is good, your spelling and grammar are fine; shame that can’t be said about the storyline. Utter drivel

Add the fact that it’s insulting to those with mental health problems it’s lucky I can’t give minus stars.

Mental illness and infidelity are not often found together in stories here. Sure, they are some, but in general no.

This was an interesting LW's story because the wife infidelity was a result had some very difficult mental issues involving her brain chemistry. She wasn't an evil person. She needed professional medical help.

A person suffers their own mental health issues when their spouse cheats. In that terrible state of mind, it would take someone extremely bright to work through that nonsense to be able focus on the cheater's mental health instead of the infidelity.

The hardest part? Not slamming the door in her face when she came to visit. How does one separate the cheating wife from the crazy wife?

as opposed to anonymous drivel, I find your writing very entertaining. I agree with Dan about the subject matter and I think you dealt with that very well and to the point. Loved the second ending of course. I am an old softie from Maine.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's psycho bitch!

Something new in Loving Wives, and I found it interesting. Gave it a five. Prefrred ending two, but I'm a hardcore RAAC.

Jedd Clampett (carvohi)

Kind of an enjoyable read but the second ending was better

Well done.

And a little strange really. Any wife that dumb would usually be presented as a comedic character. "You've got some 'splainin' to do Lucy!"

If we buy the insanity premise of the first ending, then the second ending is more palatable.

but i found neither of the endings really matched up to the excellent story that had gone before them.

Also, no follow up on his job? Did he just go on working with her numpty of a brother and most of his "wonderful workmates" only one of which actually had his back (well at least tried to warn/ tell him)!

If so, that would help explain why his wife figures she's safe to do as she wants.

I like strange and different

I normally find something in each of your stories to appreciate. This one lacked some things making the epiloges both dissatisfying.

The opening frame was marvelous dialogue and suggested an interesting plot to follow.

Sorry.

Norman_Sands

I liked the 1st ending but hate the 2nd

...the second ending better. This was an okay story...mental illness was the only likely reason for her behavior. Hopefully they’re able begin a new relationship...their old marriage was over. Three stars ⭐️ for this one.

Loved the first alt ending. 2nd ending made him a CUCK!!!

I liked the second ending, first ending was nice too, I can always sympathise with some level of overblown karmic justice - though I assume it was there to pacify some of the babies that infest this site and it's comments section lol.

Sado Lukeey at it again, no idea about real life and compassion, in her condition it can only be option 2

Great story, very very imaginative.

.

I read this before, but must have been at least a week or so ago .... or more. 'Cause I couldn't remember much about it until I got half way through. I must have liked it because I voted five. Still like it. Not sure which ending I would choose, the original was fine with me, I can see myself coming up with lots of 'the rest of the story' ideas as I fall asleep tonight and more as I laze around after waking up tomorrow. As for the other two endings, both have merits. I'd chose the first, or a modified version of it - where he goes ahead and divorces her even though she's nuts. As for the second, I would tell her I forgave her, but wouldn't take her back, what's to say she misses her meds one day, or just gets a little change in her chemistry and goes nuts again. Just couldn't trust her to stay sane.

I am shocked at my desire to see more fleshing out of ending 2

I rather think that ending 1, followed by ending 2, makes ending 3.... which was pretty good, and give a bit more emotional meat on the bones from ending version 0.

Green-something

As unlikely a story as this is, it actually makes since from the very start. She had to have structure and order. Rules for her to function. She probably did not work, doubtful she could handle the chaos. A lot of people have little quirks that mean and hide nothing, but when her husband left, she lost that structure that held herself together. That, explains everything but the threesome, I guess she just had to have anal on his birthday. Rules you know.

What can I say, looney tunes, obviously a disturbed woman, humorous story though. I think I looked like a bobble head while reading it. Little like the "MY Wife Goes on a Date" story.

I enjoyed it even with both endings I gave it a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolutely awful. In any flavor offered.

WOW! I enjoyed the story and the last two endings. Mental health is a hard thing to fight, I suffer depression and have no idea where it came from. I keep fighting and its better most days, a few are still dark here and there. It just cant be helped. I think its a really good story, keep up the good work please.

Unless she promised a wakeup blowjob and an anal goodnight every day, I'd throw that snowglobe to the floor.

I liked the two ending twist. Not sure if I like the mental sickness out, I know people who just have a different take on morality and entitlement, on what being in a marriage should mean. And this does not only refer to cheating. Maybe I will write about that one day.

Why did the second ending skip TWO years ahead, instead of the one year in the first one.

\

I still wouldn't take her back, but IF I did, the divorce would still go through and she would be a live-in FWB with occasional anal and occasional FFMs.

@sbrooks103x

"Even a mentally ill person can understand that a "birthday anal" should still be given the next day."

How would you know what a mentally ill person can understand? A mentally ill person can't consent to sex.

It's just hard to believe how people can do such stupid things. How about another chapter where he gets even with the coworkers. Good to see stories of men who will not tolerate cheating.

Only BTB authors can conceive such an absurd nonsense. Excusing the moronic plot for mental illness could pass only in LW. But then again misogyny oozes from almost all these BTB stories where females are portrayed as utterly entitled idiots and wildly delusional. So madness is just one more step forward.

S Brooks

I assume the second ending skipped ahead 2 years to account for the time it took for the divorce and the remaining balance was what it took for her to hunt down the snow globe.

On second reading I've come to respect your cleverness and your new approaches to the LW genre. This story certainly rates a score somewhat above a 4.

I found this quite amusing, didn't need the endings or mention of mental health though.