My friends and family tried to support me and Don. In fact, my friends from work gave me a wedding shower, and so did my church I grew up in. It didn't really matter to him, though. He still kept taking and taking.
Little did I know, I wasn't alone at work in my situation of being with an abusive man. There were at least three other women I worked with that were in similar situations. Unfortunately, we didn't discuss it much. One of my friends came to work with sunglasses on several times because of blackened eyes. We did talk about it then, and we were all telling her to get out of there. They had two little girls, but strangely enough, he didn't touch them. Only her.
I knew that I didn't expect my home life to be so difficult forever. I hoped that he would change, but I was beginning to want more for my life than mediocre. Work was great, and I put everything I was into what I was doing there. I learned a lot, and I expected a lot out of myself.
That September, five of us were called into our manager's office. We were laid off. It was the beginning of the end for the savings and loan mortgage department. I couldn't believe that I was one of the people who lost her job. I was absolutely devastated! This job had meant so much to me and had given me great opportunities. I voiced my dislike to our manager, and he was just sick. Literally. This wonderful manager we had, the one who believed in me and gave me a chance, he was physically ill after telling us the news.
I was working for the underwriter, and I knew things that the other girl who worked with us didn't know. But she had a college degree, and I didn't. So, there you go!
They did give us a severance package, which was good. It only took me two weeks to find a job because my supervisor wrote a letter of recommendation for me. He even typed it himself on a typewriter/computer he knew absolutely nothing about. But he insisted he do it himself. He was very upset, too.
It was time to change jobs to a CPA office. I really needed to buy a car. And, thank goodness, I did qualify, probably barely, for one. I bought myself a truck, and it gave me some freedom I didn't have before.
I knew if I needed to get away from Don, I could get in my truck and drive away. I think it might have been then that I started seriously considering divorcing him and staying away from him forever. It was less than a year into our marriage and almost four years with him. I was wondering why I married him anyway.
Being in the business world, I saw men out there who did not behave the way Don did. I saw men with goals and expectations in life that were not so low. Hanging around people like that, I realized that maybe my life didn't have to be like this.
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