“I requested a detailed cellphone bill. That’s when our story changed. My stomach dropped as I saw the SAME phone number on page after page. He was Snapchatting with a single woman. Minutes later, he showed up at our house.”
‘He rubbed my wedding ring. ‘I don’t love you anymore. I don’t think I want to be married to you.’ It was like a sledgehammer in the chest. All I remember saying is, ‘You don’t mean that.’
‘He told me he was my master. He demanded complete obedience. He was always disappearing. He told me it was my fault. He told me I was crazy.’
“He took me to expensive restaurants. He remembered my favorite wine. He let me spend the night. I spent all my energy trying to impress him. I didn’t want to be a single mom. I didn’t want to be alone. I made the hardest decision of my life.”
‘The text was simple: ‘Later 2nite.’ He was my husband. She was my great friend. All he could muster was, ‘At least I come home to the family.’
“He walked out of the bathroom, his shirt half tucked into his undone pants. He looked at his cell in my hand and raised an eyebrow. The trembling in my voice was out of control. ‘Are you having an affair?’ He laughed. ‘I thought you knew.'”
‘I dropped him off at another woman’s house. He lied. I was heavily pregnant. And now I just dropped my boyfriend off at another woman’s house. I was officially a single mother.’
“My boyfriend told me about a job opportunity that would allow me to be a stay-at-home mom. Downside? It was 2 hours away. He was insistent on going, and who was I to turn down that opportunity? So, I drove him. I dropped him off at a relative’s house. Kissed him goodbye. Something didn’t feel right, but I went with it.”
‘At 7 months pregnant, I found messages online to a dozen women, telling them he hated me, wished I was dead. He was my best friend, and had promised we could co-parent.’
“He cheated with lots of women, without protection, one of them had an STD. I spent months trying to love a baby that had the face of the person who ruined my life. And then I had an idea – Turns out my daughter was not all him, she was a lot of me too.”
‘I just got fired. You should leave me,’ my husband’s text said. Something was very off. Strange things like him disappearing at odd times, catching him in lies, his increased anger.’
“He’d opened a private bank account where he had been hiding his lifestyle. I found countless large charges to the local casino. Angry emails. Work phone calls he had ignored. I discovered he was regularly viewing porn. I was livid. Heartbroken.”
‘I spontaneously booked a hotel room and drove 5 hours to meet a stranger. ‘What the hell am I doing here?!,’ I wrote to my friend. I felt absolutely crazy, but I was on top of the WORLD.’
“We went back to his apartment. I was hesitant, because, what would happen next?! It was getting into the early morning hours, so I thought to myself, now or never. What was happening to me?!”
‘We’re broke. We’re $100 thousand in debt.’ He sent it to an online ‘camgirl.’ He is a porn addict, and has been since before he met me. I sat stunned, staring at him.’
“‘I lent a friend money. It’s gone. We’re not getting it back,’ he said. I was frozen. ‘How much money?’ My heart was racing. ‘Five thousand dollars?’ ‘Higher,’ he said between sobs. ‘TEN thousand? Twenty five? Fifty?’ I started to feel ill. It turns out, my husband hadn’t lent the money to a friend at all.”
‘Where are you going?’ I asked. ‘I’m leaving. Obviously, I am not a priority in your life!’ He peeled out of the parking lot, leaving me standing there wondering what the hell just happened.’
“I got a phone call. The woman was getting divorced and needed my help. My boyfriend stomps towards me, handing me my wallet and keys. ‘Your priorities are all out of whack,’ he said as he nearly runs me over while heading towards his car.”
‘My husband was distant and mean, calling me his ‘future ex-wife.’ He drank too much and went to bed. He was on the phone with his cheating partner as I was cleaning up.’
“I asked him if he’d had another affair. He denied it at first saying ‘they were just friends,’ but I knew the truth. I even could guess who it was. Over a few bottles of wine, some markers and poster board, the epic ‘Take my Ex’s Stuff Yard Sale’ was created, and a hit in the neighborhood.”