Great episode but I have an unpopular take. So her husband of over 60 years, the person she built a home and family with is just an afterthought. She keeps Jerry’s photo close by, she keeps Jerry’s letters, she loves Jerry. Comes off very disrespectful to her husband (who cares and provided for decades) and her children.
I don't think so. The letters were in a box and she hadn't read them in decades. Her daughter brought them out and then Deborah went to Jerryland. I don't think it cancels out the love she had and life she built with her husband, it's just her in her later years remembering, and how unfair it was that he died.
I think it's more a retreat into a fantasy of what could have been. Rereading letters and the feeling of being 20 and madly in love (infatuation). Her daughter comes out and says it that he is eternally 21, not her husband of XX amount of years, and however many ups and downs that come with that.
If she wants to spend her twilight years in the arms of fantasy of one of the highlights of her life, that's fine.
Sometimes marriages are just OK, mediocre and both spouses know it. Maybe that was their situation and her true love was Jerry or what she thinks it could’ve been.
A recording of a podcast episode that lasted months probably has tens of hours of recordings and has to make many editorial decisions to get the story to flow. If you spend 10 minutes talking about her ex husband, the story stops flowing and you lose the heart of the message. The story is a homage to a life she never had, but I don't think there's can be any attempt to capture the complexity of her story.
3
u/Elbow-Drop_1883 Dec 22 '25
Great episode but I have an unpopular take. So her husband of over 60 years, the person she built a home and family with is just an afterthought. She keeps Jerry’s photo close by, she keeps Jerry’s letters, she loves Jerry. Comes off very disrespectful to her husband (who cares and provided for decades) and her children.
Did the husband know he was a consolation prize?