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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A divorced woman had an emotional realization after finding the cufflinks her ex-husband wore on their wedding day.
Ashley Arrasmith, from Kentucky, took to TikTok, posting as @ashleyarrasmith23, to share a closer look at the cufflinks and the two telling words that were written on them.
Arrasmith got divorced from her husband four years ago and, until now, the cufflinks had been gathering dust in her home.
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"I got married in 2011, and they were purchased off of Etsy," Arrasmith told Newsweek. "I was in my early twenties and really didn’t think anything of them at the time."
Arrasmith’s ex-husband was an avid gamer and chose to wear cufflinks with the words "game over" written on them.
Though the phrase is a reference to popular gaming parlance, on reflection and in the context of everything that followed in their marriage, those two words took on additional meaning for Arrasmith.
Divorce is common in America today. A Pew Research Center study found, in 2023, around a third of U.S. adults who had been married had seen their first marriage end in divorce.
Around 4 in 10 marriages in the U.S. also end within the first decade. Arrasmith was among them. Issues like infidelity, continuous conflict and financial problems are among the most-commonly cited reasons for divorce.
The latter certainly appears to have been at the heart of why Arrasmith got divorced. "My marriage ended around the 10-year mark; a lot of fights about video games, money, and money spent on video games," she said.
Looking back at the cufflinks and the message written on them was an odd feeling. While the joke of marriage being "game over" may not have landed all that well in itself, Arrasmith felt the fact that he made referencing to gaming even then, should have been a hint at how big a part of their lives it would prove to be. It was a stark realization.
"Finding them and looking back, I really should have known it was going to be an issue, but I believed myself to be in love and that love was enough," Arrasmith said.
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Though Arrasmith was left with negative emotions when she found the cufflinks, sharing her experience on TikTok ultimately proved beneficial with others taking to the comments section to offer sympathy and share similar experiences.
"Someone made a ball and chain joke to my ex husband and he laughed," one user wrote. "We fought because I brought it up, he craved validation more than standing up for me. He never did it again but now we’re divorced. The universe shows you little signs."
Another wrote: "I agree with you—tacky. I’m glad you’re out of this situation." A third added: "Embarrassing for him! You deserve so much more, I wish you the best."
Arrasmith responded to those commenting to assure them she is in a much-better place. "Happiest I’ve ever been now," she wrote.
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