Sex and Divorce

"Did you know that I was a divorce lawyer once?", Margaret confessed without shifting her gaze on the busy street. We were at a sidewalk cafe somewhere (I think) on the Sukhumvit Road area; laptops opened to capitalize on the free wi-fi the cafe offered. It is 10 pm and the street is still bustling with traffic. I had just flown in few hours back before checking into the hotel; and was trying to maintain a steady stream of concentration on the laptop while having coffee. I was tired. I can't say that I enjoyed the coffee nor the e-mail queue nor the depressing Bangkok weather.

"So why did you changed lines- business no good kah?", I answered. Margaret was now a big-time regional corporate lawyer based in KL. A far throw from what- being a divorce lawyer?!

"Business was too good in fact," Margaret replied, with a hint of catching my sarcasm. "Too good. Infectious maybe. The pain of divorce got into me." "The last straw came when I was slapped in the face by a woman while trying to get custody of her kid."

I later found that the divorce business should be indeed good for the law industry- you can check out this study made here and sum up the conclusion somehow. Divorce rate is double digit percentage in Malaysia (I think about 15-20%?) but of course this is quite low compared to the 50% rate in the USA or some parts of Europe.

Margaret continued, "There are several reasons which lead to divorce- but somehow, it all leads to sex- the lack of it or too much of it." I wasn't sure whether I agreed with my colleague or not, but she definitely threw me off my concentration on the e-mails. "A married woman has to wear a few hats- as mother and as lover to her husband. Over time, a woman may be a great mother to her children but should also not forget how to love her husband as lover."

I wondered about the direction of the conversation and thought aloud, "Hey Marge, why you suddenly talk like this- are you talking about yourself kah?" But then, we were all a long way from home.

There was no direct answer from Margaret as smoke wafted from a long puff. I continued pounding on my laptop getting ready a 30 power point slide presentation for the next morning. We are all very busy people aren't we.