Author Katja Lewina knows what can go wrong in love. She collects breakup stories. This week she talks about Rayk, whose wife suddenly separated after 30 years. Shortly afterwards he met a new woman, gave up everything for her – and was disappointed again.
This text comes from the stern archive and first appeared on August 27, 2023.
Sometimes you lose something. For example, recently all the great people who told me their breakup stories at one of my readings. I needed her for this column! When I started a search on Instagram, almost all of them were back.
And with them there was someone else who I wasn’t looking for, but who volunteered. Let’s call him Rayk. He writes that he was left by his wife of 30 years last year, and then recently by his new girlfriend. Two breakups so quickly one after the other must be hard. A few weeks later we arranged to meet on the phone. “What do you want to know?” asks Rayk. His voice trembles a little. The matter is fresh, he has to collect himself first.
“Maybe you start at the beginning,” I suggest, and he does.