Key Points
Though my ex-husband had abruptly moved out five months prior and we hadn't seen or heard from him in more than three months at that time we clung to the hope he'd remember our vows and he'd someday return home...
Yet, as I stood in the doorway trying to make sense of it all, I felt the whole world crumble on top of me and bury me alive.. Through a stream of tears and my heartbroken children's incessant wails of confusion, I called the first person who came to mind, despite our challenging past: my ex-husband's mother...
She helped calm my children, comfort me, and offer advice on how best to navigate the sudden loss of our family unit the biggest piece of my identity with a firm assurance that everything would be OK...
Fast forward through an uncomfortable spring when court dates trickled in from lawyers I couldn't afford and a traumatic summer when I had no job prospects, forced to call homeless shelters and food banks to survive, while my ex-husband came and went "as agreed to," further deepening the wounds...
When I think of everything that's happened, the roads that forced us apart or intersected in ways we couldn't navigate, I'm reminded of the love I have for my kids namely, my son and how, on a fundamental level, I understood my ex-mother-in-law more than ever...
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