MDWFEATURES / Catherine NavarroA woman from New Jersey was so delighted at having finally been granted a divorce that she threw a full-blown party, complete with balloons, champers and a cake iced with the words ‘straight out of marriage’.
34-year-old Catherine Navarro married her former husband Marc when she was just 20 years old, a ‘last-minute’ decision she would later come to regret.
Their whirlwind romance turned sour when Catherine realized he had been keeping secrets from her. In 2012, she attempted to file for a divorce, but Marc responded by vanishing from her life completely.
Unable to track her runaway husband down, the area manager was forced to prove she had searched high and low for him in order to be granted a divorce in his absence.
MDWFEATURES / Catherine NavarroCatherine said:
I realized not long into the marriage that I didn’t know him at all and there were too many secrets. The first divorce proceeding started approximately seven years ago, and lawyers were involved, but he refused to agree to the terms.
So, it goes in blind love, I eventually gave up on the idea and instead vowed to continue working on our marriage. Ultimately, we separated and during that time, which spanned nearly a decade, I tried to file for divorce multiple times, but he refused to sign the papers.
When things fell apart again, the road to the final divorce was quite the journey. Marc vanished off the face of the planet and I didn’t hear from him or have any idea where he was.
When this sort of thing happens, when you can’t find your husband anywhere, and desperately want to cut legal ties, there’s an option to file for divorce in their absence – but you have to prove you’ve looked everywhere.
MDWFEATURES / Catherine NavarroIt took Catherine years to prove her grounds for divorce, which she was finally granted in March 2019.
To celebrate finally being released from her unhappy marriage, Catherine threw a divorce party bash, decorated with pink balloons spelling out the words, ‘happily divorced’.
Catherine said:
It had been years in the making, but the day I finally got divorced, my closest friends, who’d seen me through this whole journey, and I decided it was time to manifest the occasion with an incredible party that would celebrate my new beginning,
I was so excited to finally have my maiden name back and be rid of him. It made me so happy. As soon as it was finalized I felt like I was 20 again and had a new chance at love.
She added:
I’d definitely recommend a divorce party to anyone else if it’s a happy occasion which brings joy, rather than drudging up old memories.
Everything happens for a reason, and for me in the end it all happened for the best. Don’t dwell on the past and instead accept the lessons that every experience provides.
Life is too short to be in a relationship which doesn’t make you happy – lawfully or not.
MDWFEATURES / Catherine NavarroAbsolutely fair play to her. Here’s – and cheers! – to a new start for unlucky-in-love Catherine.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.