I just knew that our relationship was on the rocks. I had always heard that you can tell what’s going on in a person’s soul by looking straight into their eyes. His were telling me that something was wrong. Diverted glances, staring off into space, and gone were gazes filled with love and romance. I felt as though our marriage was falling apart bit by bit.

And then came angry moments. Deep-heated arguments became common place. He had a bad Irish-Italian temper. Sometimes, the disputes were so awful that he would pin me against the wall. I would wait in sheer terror for him to hit me, but he always held back just at the last moment. I kept asking myself how long was I going to put up with this.

We met when I was only fourteen years old. He was four years older than I was, and I thought it was impressive to have an “older” boyfriend. I knew early on that he had a temper, but he had never used it on me at any time during our four year relationship. We got married when I was just eighteen years old even though I was smart enough to know better than to marry so young. Even on the night of my wedding, I told someone I thought I had made a mistake. But, I ventured into the marriage, attended college, and we had somewhat of a successful marriage. For awhile, that is.

Working at a steady job was not a strength of his. He would miss work a lot, or he would quit and find another job. At one point in his life, he had fifteen jobs in fourteen years. I would dare to say, he was not conscientious, trustworthy, or dedicated when it came to jobs. We struggled financially, but thanks to my parents, we had some help along the way with food and my tuition.

During the last year of our marriage, I was becoming skeptical about his faithfulness in our relationship. He was doing construction work, and the company hired a young female carpenter. I was always hearing about her. I had to listen about how good she was at carpentry and the various skills that men usually do. One could tell he was smitten with this new female carpenter. I would occasionally show up with lunch with the real purpose of checking up on him.

One cold and windy February night I was in a very serious car accident which caused many internal injuries. I required a seven-hour surgery, placed in the intensive care unit, and basically, my family was told I probably would not survive. With the care of at least a dozen doctors and a wonderful medical staff, I did survive with a four-month stay in the hospital. I came home in a wheelchair, learned to walk again, and haven’t stopped since. But…. the news I learned upon my arrival home was not what a wife wants to hear.

It seems as though the entire time I was in the hospital, my former husband was spending lots of days and nights with the female carpenter. And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As soon as I healed to the point where I could drive again and maneuver about on my own, I sought out an attorney. Needless to say, we know how the rest goes. Divorce was easily granted, and I moved into an apartment after settlement on our house.

No one wants to be a car accident. No one wants to spend nearly a year recuperating from a late night drive home. However, if it hadn’t been for that tragic night, I might not have known about the “other” woman. The one he saw while I was in the hospital recovering from multiple injuries. It all happened one night…….