u/JadedTooth3544

I don't doubt John's friends thought that John was ready to end the marriage...at a particular moment. But John was not decisive when it came to relationships. Lots of people go through minutes, hours, even days when they are ready to end their marriage. That doesn't mean they are ready to carry through with it, or won't change their mind.

And they were under tremendous stress that summer. It is absolutely no surprise, with Anthony dying, George struggling, other recent tragedies, Carolyn trying to adjust to the media madness...it's just no surprise that this caused some bumps in the marriage. How could it not? But it also seems pretty obvious that they loved each other and wanted the marriage to succeed. And I seriously doubt that John was going to add to his already overfull plate of problems by pursuing even a separation. Again, John was not that decisive about such things.

And it seems pretty obvious that they yearned for normalcy--Carolyn said something about just a couple of days before she died. Formally or even informally separating was not going to create normalcy--quite the opposite--and I suspect they knew that.

So I really discount the whole narrative that the marriage was about to end. I just don't think that makes sense, given what we know about marriage and about their own situation during that period of time.

Of all the narratives that are told about their marriage, I am most skeptical of this one.

I don't doubt John's friends thought that John was ready to end the marriage...at a particular moment. But John was not decisive when it came to relationships. Lots of people go through minutes, hours, even days when they are ready to end their marriage. That doesn't mean they are ready to carry through with it, or won't change their mind.

And they were under tremendous stress that summer. It is absolutely no surprise, with Anthony dying, George struggling, other recent tragedies, Carolyn trying to adjust to the media madness...it's just no surprise that this caused some bumps in the marriage. How could it not? But it also seems pretty obvious that they loved each other and wanted the marriage to succeed. And I seriously doubt that John was going to add to his already overfull plate of problems by pursuing even a separation. Again, John was not that decisive about such things.

And it seems pretty obvious that they both yearned for normalcy--Carolyn said something about this just a couple of days before she died. Formally or even informally separating was not going to create normalcy--quite the opposite--and I suspect they knew that.

So I really discount the whole narrative that the marriage was about to end. I just don't think that makes sense, given what we know about marriage and about their own situation during that period of time. Maybe they would have eventually separated or divorced; that happens. Maybe not. But I just don't think it's possible to even put odds on that, given what we know about that summer.