“I got a text from my husband. ‘Hey, I’m coming home. I need to tell you something. Cathy is going to meet me there.’ Cathy was a close friend and mentor to me. Why would she need to come also? I sat on my couch with my 4-month-old girl on my lap. My husband confessed he’d cheated with a woman he worked with. A woman who listened to me pour out my heart about my struggling relationship with my husband only one week before.”
‘Yes, I was naive. I was married to a sex addict and had no idea. I felt like I was staring at a stranger.’: Wife realizes she isn’t ‘weak’ for staying in her marriage, husband has ‘completely owned his mistakes’
‘At 18, I hid an entire pregnancy all the way up to delivery. I refused to tell anyone. I was ashamed and afraid.’: Teen birth mom’s candid lessons learned after choosing adoption for her daughter, reuniting with her 18 years later
“After graduating high school just months prior, with a 5+ month baby belly hidden under my gown, I was rushed into ‘the next chapter.’ The pregnancy was over, and I just wanted to be a ‘good girl.’ No baby in my arms, I cut ties with her father. Then blink! I reunited with my baby days shy of her 18th birthday.”
‘Mommy? I DO have one more thing to say.’ Of course she did. I was biting my tongue I was so frustrated.’: Mom’s eye-opening lesson in forgiveness from sassy 3-year-old
“‘Mommy,’ my 3-year-old said, staring me down with venom in her tiny voice. ‘I FORGIVE YOU!!!’ The way she said ‘I forgive you’ made it sound like cuss words. I walked over to the bedside and leaned over. ‘Baby girl, do you know what forgiveness means?’”
‘My mother-in-law wore a wedding dress to MY wedding. I didn’t think to ask what she planned to wear. It ended without anyone being shoved into the champagne fountain.’
“The morning of the wedding, all the women in the bridal party crammed into a tiny room in the church. Then, she walks in. I see it. My sister kept looking at me, then my mother-in-law, then the cop the venue made us hire. She pulled me aside, hoping I didn’t go for his taser.”
‘On my wedding night, she grabbed me by the shoulders. ‘This will be the last time we see each other,’ she said, tears in her eyes. She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. There were so many red flags.’
“I looked at her, puzzled. ‘Don’t be so dramatic. I’ll see you tomorrow at the house.’ Little did I know, these words were going to be our last. She decided to go out with a bang, turning what was supposed to be a joyous day into a painful one. She couldn’t bare to see me happy.”
‘It was exactly 4:00 p.m. There were no other cars around me for about a mile. I noticed the truck turning left and wasn’t slowing down to turn. In fact, he was speeding up. This was it. I knew I was going to hit him.’
“That day I felt a strong feeling that I needed to put my seatbelt on in her driveway. I thought it was a little bit odd, because I usually didn’t put my seatbelt on until I was leaving her neighborhood, but I put it on right then.”
‘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.’
“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.”
‘I was 4 years old. I had on my plaid dress. He interrupted my nap and locked the bedroom door. When I told my dad, he said, ‘WHY did you need to share this? Can’t you see how upset your mother is?’
“I remember the pillow soaking with tears as he shushed me. I never meant to tell anyone. It was a secret I had decided to carry to the grave.”
‘She tried to warn me years before. ‘You’re crazy and a liar,’ I told her. We had nothing in common but our abuser. Desperate and alone, I told her my story. I’ll never forget what she did.’
“Three days later, I called him. ‘Can you come pick me up?’ When we got home, the first thing he did was point out my black eye. I opened the truck door, sore, bandaged, and broken when he said, ‘Wow, that looks pretty rough.’”
‘My mom was standing beyond the door, a distraught look on her face. I could tell something horrible happened. ‘I’m sorry to tell you this.’ The initial shock was like a punch to the gut.’
“I was sure it was one of my cat’s that had been killed, but it was far worse than I ever could’ve imagined. I fell to the floor, shaking. ‘How could this be?,’ I screamed. It was cold-blooded murder.”
