Fast-forward to November 2018. Our son got married and of course we attended the wedding. I had not seen my ex in over a year; he quit talking to our daughter when our son went into the Air Force in 2015. We arrived in Missouri a couple of days before the wedding. At the rehearsal, my ex gave me a hug. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I allowed it. When we were getting ready to practice the ceremony entrance, he wanted me to link arms w

Warning: I use occasional crude/vulgar language in this article. He bought me an engagement ring in 2001 and we chose a wedding date in February 2002. I threw myself into wedding planning. He didn’t take part in any way, but I was used to doing everything solo. I told myself that it didn’t matter if he wasn’t involved because at least he was marrying me. I told myself that the wedding is for the woman, so it was totally normal that he didn’t care about a single detail, that h

So, we settled into being parents of our son during Spring/Summer/Fall 1997. I was so happy to have a baby that I shut out anything unpleasant regarding our relationship. My oldest child started Kindergarten, and I was back to work. Between work and my two sons, I didn’t have time to think about the negative aspects of our relationship, including the fact that I was carrying virtually all of the home-making and child-rearing responsibilities, on top of a full-time job. We wer

Even with all the warning signs, we moved in together in early 1995. I really thought that once he felt more secure in our relationship, it would get better. He would see that I wasn’t like his ex-girlfriends and he would trust me. I learned how to be a “female partner” in a relationship by watching my mom, like a lot of us do. My mom, and his mom, were stay-at-home moms. They took care of the family and household while the men made the money. Even though I worked full-time,

Warning: I may use the occasional curse word in this article. No one gets married assuming or thinking that they will get divorced. At least, no one I've ever met, including myself. However, if ever there was a marriage that should not have occurred, it was my first marriage. The signs were there if I had not told my inner voice to shut the fuck up. I met him at work in 1994. I was a student employee, on a temporary assignment in the office where he worked. I was young; 20 ye