The Decision

You only live once. Corny expression. We’ve all heard it a million times. But for some reason, when spoken at the right time by the right person, it takes on deeper meaning. My father uttered these words to me and the force of them nearly shattered my eardrums. I sat stunned, sitting at a picnic table, watching my children play, and thinking “My God. He’s right. Do I want my one shot to be like this?” The simple answer was no. I was deeply unhappy. I shared a home with a man I had come to despise. I feared for the safety of my children. I felt trapped. But while I felt that life had slammed the door shut on me for years, my father opened a window. “We can help” he said. And help they did.

In a matter of weeks, we were out. It was a stressful few weeks, full of nausea, heart palpitations and sleepless nights. But we made it. I’m not stupid. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But I never in a million years expected it to be THIS hard.

We were out, we were free and we were homeless. The decision to leave had been made. The follow through would be full of new decisions. Ones that had to be made quickly but that would have lasting consequences.