Teaser Tuesday
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Forewarning: This book is intended for the brokenhearted person stumbling through life looking for meaning — trying to end their pain. It is a tough read by all measures. If you have been through trauma, take good care while reading it. It will open wounds.
From the book A Prisoner by No Crime of My Own,
Chapter 9 — Trains, Planes & Automobiles
“Let yourself be gutted. Let it open you. Start there.”
- Cheryl Strayed from Tiny Beautiful Things
My brother had moved to Hawaii to run from illicit-drug complications at home and began working for Hawaiian air. Richard was a brick mason and belonged to an international union that had an office on Oahu. We decided to move our family to Hawaii and rent a place with my brother. After a very short year, we returned to the mainland and moved into a small town in Washington.
My oldest daughter, Brit, was in kindergarten and my little one, Brooke, was just three. I was a stay-at-home home in those days — the best job I’ve ever had. My girls were opposite in nature but close. Their thick dark blonde hair, beautiful skin, and striking eyes showed sisterhood.
One night, we had a party at a friend’s house and Richard left to run to the store. The girls and I went home because he still hadn’t returned by nightfall. About 4 or 5am, he came home.
The next day, I received a call from an angry husband, screaming on the phone, “Your husband did coke with my wife last night. I need to talk to him — now!”
Richard took the phone from my ear and hung up. I was devastated. I was just like my mom in the sense that this was now my family. He was my husband. I didn’t want to share him. I wanted him to be devoted to our family. But this was my normal by now, still too broken to leave.
I tried to write whenever I could. When Brooke was a baby, I had a vision of this book. On the cover was a woman wearing a prison-issued dress sitting on a concrete floor. One window cast a shadow on her downtrodden appearance. The title of the book was, A Prisoner by No Crime of My Own.
. . .
Originally published at https://prisonerbynocrimeofmyown.com on March 21, 2023.
