Cathy Meyer knew her 17-year marriage had its shortcomings, but she never dreamed that her husband would one day walk out the door, never to come back.

In a conversation Wednesday with HuffPost Live’s Nancy Redd, the mother of two recalled her abrupt divorce.

“On January 1st, our anniversary, he was madly in love and told me he couldn’t live without me,” she said. “On January 10th, we were getting ready to go to church, and we had a little tiff and he said ‘I’m going to go get a Coke’ and he picked up his car keys and quite literally never came home again.”

January is often cited as the most popular month for divorce, perhaps a result of couples hoping to spend one last holiday season as a cohesive family unit. Meyer, however, would have appreciated more of a heads up — even if it meant spending the holidays solo.

“He left me with two children to raise because when he divorced me, he left them also,” she explained. “Some warning would’ve been especially kind and generous of him. He didn’t save anyone any grief.”

Watch more from HuffPost Live’s conversation about January’s high divorce rate here.

Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!