Georgia? No way! I was just getting my footing in a career that I felt confident in. I did not want to give that up. He said that I was the most selfish person he knew. He claimed he wanted to move to Georgia since his mother had recently moved there to be with his father, and because she had lupus and could die any day. Without my knowledge, he notified the leasing office to let them know we were not renewing our lease. Before I knew it, our home was packed up and our things were headed to Columbus, Georgia. We moved in 2000. Brenda past away in 2008.
I was miserable in Georgia. The delivery of our furniture was delayed, so we had to stay with my in-laws until it arrived. Honestly, I felt stupid. I’d given up my career, and my sense of confidence. Why didn’t I just say no? Why wasn’t I strong enough? To make matters worse, Brenda would look at me like I wasn’t good enough for her son. Although, neither of her sons graduated university, she and her husband had, and provided a nice life for themselves. She had no idea that her son labored to destroy my hopes and dreams. And even worse, that I didn’t know how to fight for myself.
We would eventually get settled in to our apartment, and somehow he was able to convince his parents to invest in opening up a restaurant. Things were going okay, until I found out he was taking our employees to the strip club and sleeping with them. When I confronted him about it, he said, “What’s your problem? All you have to do is take care of the children. You don’t have to work. You have what most women want.” I would later find out he was registered on a singles page to meet women. His post said he was single and relocated to Georgia to take care of his terminally ill mother. He would drive his parent's high end cars and take women to the restaurant to impress them.
One day I was visiting his mother at her house. She and I were finally able to build a friendship once she realized I wasn’t intellectually inept; just insecure. She was sitting at her computer when I walked up to her and said, “Brenda, I’m going to leave your son.” I was so afraid. It was silent for a while. She would tell me that she’d wish she had done things differently with her husband as well. It was a tough conversation for the both of us, but it was clear what was going to happen next. I filed for divorce.
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