When I first found myself cast out onto the street, everything in me gave up. Looking back over the years, I see now that it was a blessing in disguise.
When my husband put me out, my will to go on simply vanished. Years later, I realised it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
We married for love, never imagining what the future held. After my daughter was born, I gained nearly three stone, and everything changed.
My husband began to ridicule me, calling me cow and pig. He no longer saw me as a woman. He compared me to his colleagues wives, who he insisted were beautiful, while saying I had become nothing but an animal.
His words cut like knives. In time, I discovered he had a mistress, and he didnt even bother to hide itspeaking to her on the phone right in front of me, exchanging messages. My daughter and I were invisible.
I cried myself to sleep every night, but had no one to confide in. An orphan with no family, and my friends had drifted away after the wedding. He knew he could do whatever he pleased and began to hit me. The sound of our daughter crying set him on edge; hed shout at me to silence her and threaten to throw us out.
Ill never forget that evening. He came home from work and told me to leave. It was nearly dusk, and rain poured down. With a small suitcase and my daughter in my arms, I was stranded on the pavement, lost and hopeless. He wouldnt even let me fetch our things. While I struggled to make sense of it all, a taxi pulled up and his mistress emerged, suitcase in hand, stepping into our flat. In my pocket, I had only a few coins.
My only refuge was the hospital where Id once worked. By sheer luck, a nurse I knew well was on duty and let us stay the night.
The next morning, I went to a pawnbroker and sold my mothers crucifix necklacethe only thing I had of hersmy husbands wedding earrings, and my wedding ring. Then, I found an advert in the local paper from a kindly old woman, Granny Margaret, who rented rooms out near Birmingham. She became like family to us. With her to look after my daughter, I managed to find work.
I had no qualifications, so I started packing meat in a butchers shop, and at night I cleaned stairwells. Later, I met a client whose house I cleaned; she offered me a job as her secretary in her firm, with a decent wage. Thanks to her, I enrolled at university, studied law, and graduated.
Today, my daughter is at university herself. We own a three-bedroom flat, a car, and go abroad on holiday every year. My law practice thrives, and I thank fate for what happened. Had my husband not thrown me out, I would never have come this far.
Not long ago, my daughter and I decided to buy a plot out in the countryside to build ourselves a cottage. We found a place just outside the city. Imagine my surprise when the caretaker turned out to be my former husband. Standing behind him was his old mistress, now quite overweight. I wanted to say everything Id ever held back, but I simply looked into his eyes. There was nothing left but a drunken, potbellied man saddled with debtthey were selling their house for this reason. In silence, I called for my daughter and we left.
Granny Margaret is still part of our liveswe visit regularly, bring her cakes, and help her when we can. I will never forget the hand she gave when I needed it most. Nor will I forget Helen, my boss, who offered me a chance to believe in myself and overcome.
