Robyn’s Story

Relationship Status Update: “It’s Complicated”

Three years. That’s how much of Robyn’s life had been wasted with Jeff.

Well, she thought to herself, maybe wasted isn’t fair. He wasn’t a bad guy. They were just too different. He was being sent on business trips with increasing frequency, and her hectic schedule managing the animal shelter kept her busy too. And when he was home, all he wanted to do was play video games instead of investing time in their relationship. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly when they started to grow apart, but she knew that the romance and chemistry that used to be a mainstay in their relationship was gone.

Right before Jeff had left on his last trip, they had had a big argument about their Christmas vacation plans. He wanted them to spend a week with his family in Alberta, but she knew her animal shelter would be under-staffed for the holidays, plus their volunteer base would be largely unavailable too. She owed it to her employees to let them have time off, so she couldn’t be away herself for that long. Not to mention that she never really clicked with Jeff’s family in the first place; the idea of spending a whole week with them was somewhat intimidating. The argument had been ugly, and hadn’t ended well.

When Jeff returned she had forced him to sit with her in the kitchen to try to talk it through. But all the emotions came back up again, and before she knew what she was saying, she had uttered the words, “Maybe we’re just not right for each other. I think this is over.”

He had paused for a long time, and finally responded with, “You can keep Rocky if I can keep the TV.” The bluntness of it infuriated her, but Rocky, their terrier, looked up at her from beside the table in that curious and disarming way of his, and the anger drained out of her as she resigned herself to this new reality.

The next few days were filled with more tears, lawyers, and, since their lease had been in Jeff’s name, the sudden need for a new apartment. That’s when we first heard from Robyn, late one Tuesday afternoon.

She didn’t have a big budget to work with, so she was looking for as simple a move as possible. We settled on a fair price, and sent in our crew of Bruce and Kathleen the following Thursday, since we know these situations need to be dealt with quickly. It took us about five hours to get everything picked up and delivered to her new place in the Exchange District.

Robyn’s new apartment isn’t anything special as far as apartments go, but it represents a fresh start. That’s just exactly what she – and Rocky – needed.