Continued from
"My Honeymoon "

My life changed from that point on.  On our honeymoon we went to a motel. I was married for six hours when we had an argument and he hit me.  He apologized and promised me it would never happen again, but it did for nine long years.

My life became very lonely. He never allowed me to have friends and even took me away from my family letting me call them, maybe, once a month. We drove a semi together, he allowed me to only drive at night and stop to use the restroom and shower.  Otherwise he brought me my food and I stayed in the truck.

Daily, my husband was hitting me no matter what I did, right or wrong, it was never good enough for him and I was paying for it.   I finally found that my husband was using drugs (meth).  He told me not to knock it before I tried it, and he said the only way I could get addicted was if I was weak and let myself get addicted.  I tried it and discovered that using helped me cope with the physical and mental abuse I was dealing with in my daily life.  

This was yet another turning point where the abuse escalated even more.   One night out of the blue, my husband asked me if I wanted to go to the bar with him and his friends and I said yes.  We went to the bar and his friend asked me to dance.  I asked my husband if it was okay and he said “yes”.  I danced on dance with his friend, and then danced the rest of the night with my husband.  We finally left the bar and when we got home he asked me if I enjoyed dancing with his friend?  I said, no, why? He said we were dancing awfully close and now I would have to pay for the embarrassment I had caused him.  My husband turned around and had a gun in his hand, I screamed for my mom and she got the bedroom door opened and he told my mom to kiss me good-bye.  She reasoned with him and got me out of the room; he packed up some things and left for the night.

The next day he came back and we talked and decided we needed some time apart.  I stayed with my mom and he moved into an apartment.  We talked daily, but I knew I wanted out.  My husband decided to move back to Oklahoma with his family until we decided what we both wanted.  One day he called me and told me he needed me to fly down to take care of some of our business affairs.  I agreed and flew down.  He picked me up from the airport and took me to his “new house”.  We got there and there were no utilities on but he said we were just sleeping there for the night.  I stayed there that night and when I woke up he was gone.  I discovered I was locked in with no way out.  I was left in this house with only a twelve pack of pop and a package of crackers. I tried endlessly to get out but I was so tired from the heat and I wore out quickly.

Finally, he came to get me and to his surprise I was alive.  I told him to take me to airport or the police station.

I was back home with my family the next day.  Relieved to be home and safe I filed for divorce.  It took six months but he finally signed the papers.  Still, I used drugs daily to deal with the pain from nine years of mental, physical and even drug abuse. 

Away from my now ex-husband, I met up with another man who I knew from my past, we were using together, but again I was in another abusive relationship.  This man helped me down my road to a new criminal life. 

I was using and selling drugs and now considered a felony forger.  I was arrested and found myself in treatment at the Stephen Center. I have never met such warm and understanding people who truly wanted to help me get better so I could have a normal life.  Not only did the Stephen Center help me with my mental disorders, but also my substance abuse and domestic abuse issues.  My counselor worked with me and helped me to be able to open up and share my past with others.  He also helped me see that it wasn’t my fault.

I will be forever grateful to the Stephen Center, my counselor and the staff, the Stephen Center still has an active roll in my daily life.

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