Well, the hard part is over. As of June 2^nd, I'm officially divorced. From now on my name will be Linda Thompson-Odum. I had to keep the Odum because that is the name I'm known by for my writing. It is the name editors look for, and students sign up for my writing classes because of that name. Maybe at some point I will be able to drop it, but I'll keep it for now.

As far as divorces go, mine was pretty easy. My ex and I agreed early on about the settlement, so we only had to go to court one time. The entire proceeding took maybe 15 minutes. Hum, 15 minutes to end a 14 year relationship. Seems a bit sad, doesn't it?