Being thrown out by my husbandyears later, I realised it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
When my husband kicked me out onto the street, I didnt want to live. It took years for me to understand it was actually the best thing that couldve happened.
I married him for love and never imagined the pain Id endure. After our daughter was born, I put on three stone, and from that moment, my life completely changed.
He started abusing me, calling me a «cow» and a «pig,» refusing to see me as a woman anymore. Hed constantly compare me to his mates wives, saying they looked perfect while Id, in his words, turned into an animal.
It crushed me. Then I found out about his young mistresshe didnt even bother hiding her. Hed chat with her on the phone right in front of me, texting her while my daughter and I became invisible to him.
I cried myself to sleep most nights, but I had no one to turn to. Im an orphan with no family, and my friends had drifted away after I got married. He felt untouchable, and soon, he started hitting me. Our daughters crying at night set him offhed scream at me to shut her up, threatening to throw us out.
Ill never forget that night. He came home from work and told me to get out. It was freezing, snowing outside. With just one bag and my baby in my arms, I stood in the driveway, clueless where to go. He wouldnt even let me pack properly. As I tried to process it all, a taxi pulled uphis mistress stepped out with a suitcase and walked straight into our house. All I had in my pocket was a few crumpled tenners.
The only place I could think of was the hospital where Id once worked. Luckily, a nurse I knew was on shiftshe let us stay the night.
The next morning, I pawned my mums gold cross necklacemy only keepsakealong with the earrings hed given me before we married and my wedding ring. I found an ad from an elderly woman, Granny Margaret, renting a room on the outskirts of town. She became family. Looking after my daughter, she gave me the chance to find work.
With no qualifications, I took a job packing meat at a factory and scrubbed stairwells at night. Later, I met a woman whose houses I cleanedshe offered me a proper job as an office administrator at her company. Shes the reason I went to uni, got my degree, and became a solicitor.
Now, my daughters at university, weve got a three-bed flat in London, a car, and we travel abroad a few times a year. My law firms doing well, and honestly, Im grateful my husband threw me out. Id never have made it this far otherwise.
Recently, my daughter and I decided to buy a plot outside London to build a holiday home. We found the perfect spotimagine my shock when my ex-husband opened the door, his now plump mistress standing behind him. I wanted to say everything Id held in for years, but I just stared at him. There he wasa drunk, pot-bellied man drowning in debt. Thats why they were selling. We stood in silence for a moment before I called my daughter, and we drove off.
Granny Margarets still in our liveswe visit often, bring her gifts, help where we can. Ill never forget how she reached out when I had nothing. And Ill always be thankful to Katherine, my old bossshe gave me the chance to believe in myself and build a life I never thought possible.
