Advice from Aunt Helen

One of my dearest and oldest friends, Mary, has left me over two years ago. She died of complications of multiple organ and organ system failure.
Mary was married once. For some of us, once is more than one needs in a lifetime.
She met him in her freshman year at an out-of-state Catholic college. His mother was the cleaning lady of the dorm, and she wanted her son to marry a nice, Irish, Catholic girl. (Little did his mother know that the Irish side of the family was Protestant).
So, they moved in together when she was a junior and they got married four years later and they had a son and then some eight years later she filed for divorce. Mister was caught cheating on her. Actually, mister also stole from her as well.
Now you may ask, how does one steal from the other when the two are married? Easy, he extracts money from their family funds and buys gifts for the bimbo.
Divorce was slow process. He made delays. He was already heavily into the bimbo (they were even expecting a child together).
Then one day when she just couldn't take the pain and the suffering anymore, she went out for a luncheon with her spinster Aunt Helen. Aunt Helen had known some men in her day, but she chose to remain unmarried because she treasured her independence and she didn't want to raise someone else's baby (i.e., a husband who behaved like a child). As Mary wept and asked her Aunt Helen what she had done wrong and why he was doing this, her Aunt held Mary's hand and patted it gently.
And while I was not there at the time, I remember how Mary shared the advice that Aunt Helen had given to her. Aunt Helen said, "Mary, my child. Look at me."
Mary looked up and focused on Aunt Helen's lips.
"I will say this once. And once you hear it, you will never forget it. Mary, he's an a**hole!"
And Mary's weeping changed to laughter.
And Mary never forgot the words of wisdom from Aunt Helen.