Yes, I don’t want to be trapped here forever.. He would likely have to pay alimony. Don’t know that it would be enoug, depends on what the percentage of his pay would be I think. I work part time, and if I could get my health to the point where I could increase that to full time it would help. Problem is, I have flare ups that can be debilitating. The mortgage is in his name but the deed to the house is in both, although I would rather move if we split. I have no family even in this state.

My husband’s family….nightmare. The first thing his mother ever said when she met me was that I was heavy with fat thighs, and that she didn’t approve of how I wear jeans and a tshirt most of the time. Also, my hair is a mess. Yet she copped an attitude when I didn’t go out of my way to hang out with her. Why would I? This was 2002. Flash forward a dozen years, and both of my husband’s siblings have disowned her. She sent her dog here to be cared for (I am an animal lover, involved in rescue, she knows I will put aside my feelings for her in that instance). The poor thing was emaciated, had been ill and force fed for six months and never taken to the vet so I came to find out. MIL was off for a tropical cruise and I’m now caring for her sweet dog who I wind up at the vet with, and she is is in full-on end stage kidney failure. Long story short, the kindest thing to do was let the dog go peacefully but the vet needed her permission, and she claimed she couldn’t call while on ship. Well, we let the sweet girl go, at that point, it’s cruel not to, and a text to this evil woman that it had been done and voila! She somehow manages to call. She got a piece of my mind that ended with my telling her she is DEAD TO ME and I hung up. Hub felt the same but within 24 hours he was back kissing her behind like nothing because “she is my mother” he said.

He has allowed her, for years, to both treat me as though I don’t exist, and treat me like I’m a plague on her life. She has gone so far as to conveniently arrange for her friends’ single daughters to visit when he visits – and I don’t go obviously. He says nothing.

We have needed financial help from time to time – I have asked my mom every time. He says his mom doesn’t have it. No, he just won’t ask her. He calls her every Thursday on his way home from work, and NEVER talks to her in front of me. Swears he has asked her for help but not in front of me and he gets ugly when I say that.

If he allows his family to disrespect me, then he is disrespecting me. He doesn’t see this. He doesn’t see that he has, over time, destroyed this marriage. It’s a joke, a farce, paper only. And the reason I can’t leave is because I have severe health issues that prevent me working full time to support myself and my kids.

I live in a daily nightmare.