Jon Armstrong, arguably the better half of the Dooce.com empire, has started opening up about his separation from his wife Heather.

He begins by addressing the many questions he’s received asking why he would help Heather out with her latest project – helping his future ex-wife film a sponsored post featuring free furniture when he apparently was forced into an apartment with nothing. In a long post, Jon talks about what he calls “Recent Events”:

Many of you might wonder why the hole I’d agree to help Heather. And I’m with you. I’ve asked myself this question plenty. I should mention that I’m still a partner of Armstrong Media. It’s in my interest to have the business be successful. By extension, it’s in my interest for Heather to be successful. It’s also been a great opportunity to work on the necessary changes in the relationship dynamic that I need to make. It has not been easy work. Being at the house and working in the office has been a challenge on more than just an emotional level…Coming back home to work has forced more than a few realizations.

At the forefront is the abundance of ironies. That Heather is outfitting a guest room via help from a sponsor while I shop for furniture for my new place is one of the more bittersweet ones.

After admitting that most people “have correctly surmised that I didn’t want this separation”, he offers what appears to be a glimpse into married life with Mrs. Dooce:

I’ve also made an effort to be positive despite the deep, deep pain that I feel every day. It’s difficult to be told that you did it wrong for years and take a look back and feel the deep regret that if only you’d known you were doing it wrong, you could have made changes and done the work that would have fixed the wrongness. How does one handle this gracefully? I don’t know. I’m trying.

There doesn’t seem to be any mentions either of marriage counseling or divorce lawyers, but it doesn’t sound like Heather is making much effort to repair the relationship beyond being “very nice” to her estranged husband. And Jon seems to view his continued work with her as purely business – “looking out for myself professionally, I’d be kind of stupid to pass up some work on a high profile website because of Recent Events”.

Where will this wind up? It’s impossible for the millions of people who have watched their lives for years not to speculate on what’s going on, or where things will go. Maybe it’s impossible even for Jon and Heather. As Jon sums up his post, “Crazy times, people. Crazy times.”

As predicted on GOMIBLOG nearly two weeks ago, Heather Armstrong (of dooce.com fame) and her husband are “taking a break”.

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