“I had experienced years of him ‘bending’ the truth, of him telling me I was ‘too much,’ trying to diagnose me with different types of mental illness. Little did I know, there was more to come. I found reserves I never knew I had, but that’s what moms do. We do everything possible to make sure our children don’t get hurt.”
‘I didn’t feel safe in my own home. It took 3 years for me to find the courage to ask for a divorce. I developed stomach ulcers from all the stress. The end was inevitable.’
‘We thought we had reached an agreement. My daughter would live with her dad. But I had no idea how hard they would make it. It was insane.’
“I felt strongly prompted to let her live with her dad. At first I ignored it. That was the worst thing I could ever imagine, and I would NEVER let it happen. Now she’s gone.”
‘I choked out, ‘So, their dad and I are no longer living together.’ 8 months into fostering two of the girls, and 2 months after saying ‘yes!’ to adopting, my children’s father and I separated.’
“We had 5 kids and had just celebrated 6 years of marriage. Our entire life crashed, the walls built with facades and fantasies. I was secretly dying inside. It was silent, painful. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be taking family photos without a husband, my children’s father.”
‘I found YEARS of mail in his trunk. My husband was living a double life and had another daughter! He abandoned us in a Target parking lot and changed the locks to our home.’
“He was a con-artist living a double life. All of our belongings were thrown out like trash. My daughter and I tried to make the best of our ‘vacation’ as I called it, while I cried and washed clothes in a hotel sink. I thought to myself, ‘How could I be so dumb?'”
‘I married a wealthy man at the age of 19. He was already divorced and 15 years older. I ran away and broke all ties with my parents. I was vulnerable.’
“I remember someone from another relationship telling me, ‘You should be happy, at least I am taking off one major thing in your to-do list by marrying you!’ I made the decision that my son and I will never meet him again. People often remind me I am a single mother. I tell them, ‘I was a single mother even when I was married.’”
