My phone is ringing. I pick it up grimacing and bracing myself for what I know will be a bad conversation. It was a returned call. I had received an email a few minutes beforehand asserting that I was condescending and that we might need a mediator to work with us on our separation.

I placed the call, which went to voicemail. I wasn’t sure if it would be returned, but there it was. So far, no mediator.

I launched directly into my piece. “I’m so sorry that you thought I was being condescending. I didn’t mean to be. I just didn’t understand what IP meant in this context. We don’t have IP except some mockups and specs.”

“Can’t you just wait for the agreement from the lawyer? I don’t have it yet.” The tone was ramping upwards.

“Sure, I can do that, but I was just trying to help resolve things quickly so we can move on, and I had questions about the content. What is in the agreement?”

“Can’t you just wait for the agreement?” That went on repeat until it turned into a scream. I hadn’t had anyone yell at me or talk to me in this way for…certainly years. I was disturbed but also sickly curious about what was going on. Was she completely losing it? Continue reading Breaking up →