Susan's Story of Abuse
I've spent seventeen years of living with and being married to the most negative person in the world! He has to constantly be the center of attention. He never says anything nice to me.
I just kept on trying, thinking one day I would be able to do something right. Only it never happened.
When he was jealous that I was going to take time off to spend with my dying mother and yelled and screamed in our driveway, I knew that he could not really care about me. I hung in there, thinking maybe things would change [for the better], but it got worse. That day, I lost most of what I had ever felt for him.
He didn't seem to care. He just wanted to stay where I would continue to allow him (with my good paycheck) to live in a fairly nice lifestyle. He tried every tactic to put and keep me in debt so that I could not leave.
But when my father died, he left each of his kids money. In my state, if you keep the money separate, the spouse has to right to it. I knew this was my chance to leave! I could put 20% down and purchase a house he would have no right to! I felt ecstatic!
It took many months to work on a plan, find a place and do all the things necessary to leave. But, God willing, I will be in my own home (all without his knowledge) by the end of May (3 weeks).
I am having my address changed to a UPS mailbox (gives street address of a shopping center)! I have a security system in my own home.
People have come out of the woodwork to help me! After I made my decision, people came forward and told me the most horrible things about him (groping my nieces, saying totally inappropriate things, using foul language loudly in a church at a wedding, stealing the gold tooth of my mother from her jewelry box)!
How Susan Found Out She Was Being Abused
One day I just had enough. He managed to ruin every vacation, every holiday, every friendship. After having an anger outburst over some minute issue in a public restaurant where he threatened to leave me 5 hours from home, I had enough. I knew "where there's a will, there's a way." And that day, I decided I was leaving.
Words Susan Chose to Describe Her Abusive Experience
Fear, Sadness, Disgust
Break the Silence: Share Your Experience
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