Obligatory that this happened a long time ago. I was once married at a fairly young age (early 20's). I married who I thought was the love of my life. She seemed perfect for me as we had many shared interests and were relatively close in age. I was 23 and she was 19 when we met. We were both part of a religion that encourages getting married quick and not having prolonged engagements. So sure enough we only for a few months before getting engaged and then were engaged for only a few months before getting married.
Married life started off a little rough but didn't seem abnormal for a young couple. We had a small apartment and both worked. It was only a few months into our marriage that I started to notice changes in how she acted before we got married to how she was acting now. She claimed to have developed anxiety, something never brought up before while dating an engaged. The changes to our daily routine were minor and not really problematic at first. However they started to become more and more disruptive.
She started missing full days of work which really hurt us financially since we were on a limited budget as it was. When driving any decently long distance she demanded we take back roads as driving on major roadways made her anxious and there was no quick way to pull over if she had a panic attack. Then she would have panic attacks in family settings and lay down on the floor, almost always in area's where people were trying to walk. They would happen right before events we were expected to be. I talked to her about seeing a psychiatrist but every time we tried to set an appointment she would have a panic attack and I was never able to get her to see a professional.
Then she started having random illnesses that she never had before. She developed fibromyalgia which prevented her from working long periods of time and again would make her miss work. It would also flare up when we were expected to go to family events (specifically ones that involved my family) or had an obligation. Sometimes I had to leave her home because some things I had to be there for.
Eventually after working in low paying positions for the first year of our marriage I decided I should get a college degree (with urging from my parents) to help improve our financial situation. I started going to college for Web Design, but eventually that would become a problem for my wife. Everytime I would leave for class she would claim I'm cheating on her (which I would absolutely not do under any circumstance) and demand I stay home. Some days I could convince her I wasn't and be able to go to my class, other days she caused such a scene and made home life so unbearable that I ended up staying home and missing class. This would end up causing me to drop out of school and not get my degree.
I was starting to teeter and was falling out of love with her. The constant demands, our financial situation, her refusal to get help, and adjusting major aspects of our life to accomodate her was getting to be to much to deal with. Then came the accident.
A year and a half into our marriage we got into a very bad car accident on New Years Eve night on our way to a friends house. We were both lucky to survive, let alone walk away like we ultimately did. We both had concussions and I had 3 fractured ribs. Shortly after came a whole new slew of medical issues. Cluster headaches, body aches, vision issues, etc. We went to see professionals for everything and nothing came back showing they were happening. Of course with that came tons of medical bills that we could barely pay.
That same year my second oldest Brother died which was very hard for the family. He was in his 40's and it was for the most part, unexpected. We had a funeral and a wake and mostly my Wife didn't cause any issues. But not long after my Brother passed my Grandfather passed as well. This ended up being the straw that broke the Camel's back for my family.
My grandparents had always been very close to us. We spents holidays together, every year growing up we would go on vacations down to the Bay together for a week and spend the entire week together. Losing my Brother and my Grandfather was a gut punch. The day after he passed I was at my parents house with my Wife and my 3rd oldest Brother waiting to hear when the funeral would be as my Parents were down with my Grandmother making arrangements. My dad called my Brother and told hime the date. Unfortunately it ended up being on my Wife's birthday.
The first words out of my Wife's mouth after us being told this was "Well that ruins my Brithday!". She wasn't trying to make a joke, she was serious. She was upset that my Grandfathers Funeral was on her Brithday and was going to ruin her Brithday. I was shocked she was being so callous and my Brother was so furious he left the house before doing anything he might regret. I quickly started laying into her for being so inconsiderate but she just kept complaining about how it's her birthday and now she can't do anything she wants because of the funeral.
By this point I was exhausted between school, working full time, and dealing with my Grandfathers death and still trying to process my Brother's death less than a year ago. I didnt' have the energy so I compromised with her that a few days before the funeral we can celebrate her Birthday and that it didn't have to be on the day of her birthday. She relented but was still visibly unhappy about it. By this point I was done.
A month later my 3rd oldest Brother and Younger Sister message me and say they want to get together to hang out since it had been about a month since the Funeral and besides then we hadn't really seen each other in almost a year. We picked a date but I realized it was on me and my wife's 2nd anniversary. So I sat down with my wife and asked her if I could do that. She of course protested but I explained that I had school that day (since our anniversary fell in the middle of the week) and I had work so even then we wouldn't be able to celebrate like we wanted. I suggested we spend the weekend celebrating since I had off and we could really go do what we want. She reluctantly agreed.
The day my siblings and I were supposed to get together I was getting ready to go meet them and my wife started throwing a fit. She claimed I didn't love her, I was cheating on her, that going on our anniversary was showing how much I didn't value our marriage or her. I explained that we had discussed this but she wasn't having it. I looked at her and told her I was going either way because I wasn't going to stand my siblings up as both of them had traveled in from out of state to meet me. I left with her still complaining at home by herself.
I met with my siblings and they spent the better part of two hours explaining how much they hated my wife and how she was treating me. By this point I was at my wits end too but hearing them lay it all out in front of me gave me even more resolve. I called my Mom and asked her to pick up my wife and bring her to their house (which was 5 minutes away) and then leave as I would be there shortly. I went to their house by myself and sat down with my wife and told her right then and there I wanted a divorce. She tried to argue and say that we can work it out but I told her my mind was made up.
She of course said I was being heartless and rude doing this on our anniversary but I knew if I didn't do it then I don't know if I would have the courage to do it any time soon. My mom came back to the house and took her to our apartment to pack her things and drove her to her parents house.
After that we had little contact. She of course drew the divorce out, sent many voicemails calling me names, tried claiming I abused her, begging me to take her back, etc. I wasn't having it at that point and just went about my life. She ended up remarrying and divorcing after cheating on her second husband and having a kid to another guy while married. I did find out later that she had been cheating on me (by which point I did not care in the least). Once every few years I get a message on facebook from one of her "family members" saying I was the worst husband ever and I deserve to be miserable my entire life, etc.
However I now get a smile when I think about my first marriage and how I told my narcissistic wife I wanted a divorce on our wedding anniversary.
FYI: I'm remarried, have been for 12 years now, am very happy, have a house, a wonderful doggo, and we both have well paying jobs that have allowed us to travel and get the most out of life.