"There will always be the older white woman in Walmart who stared at us with sheer disgust, or the African-American mother who looked at us and just shook her head.”
"While you are not her Savior, and shouldn’t carry that burden around, you are there to protect her. She has one knight in shining armor with skin on in this world. You."
"Did someone open a card under his name? The next day, the day I called that hotel room and heard his voice, his voice 1,000 miles away, and then heard her voice in the background, that was the day I broke."
"I question my own motives in writing this. Is it sordid? Is it to gain sympathy? Is it to avoid criticism or worse, to benefit from the publicity criticism brings? Lord, I hope not."
The cost of depression to our family was too high. The risk of permanent damage to myself, our marriage, and our precious kids’ hearts was real. I was too weak to reach out for help, so he took authority and insisted on change.
Could my once-celebrated introversion be a side effect of rejection, hurt feelings, and loss? After years of being left behind, excluded, or put down, did I put on a garment of introversion like a shield to protect me from harm? I mean, man can be cruel. Sometimes it’s easier to just avoid it altogether.
