I was married for 21 years, together for 24 years. My wife always had a temper but as the years went on her patience and temper grew short with me. Couple that with narcissism, jealousy, perhaps bi-polarism, and being prone to violence, it was a recipe for disaster. I never cheated on my wife but that didn't stop her from accusing me of cheating. She created stories in her mind about me being in relationships with tons of women. She constantly went through my phone, checked my wallet, went through my stuff, closet and even my car looking for "contraband".

I couldn't walk out in public without making sure my eyes were looking at the ground. No eye contact with the opposite sex. I couldn't even watch a news cast on TV without her accusing me of being interested in the weather girl. She installed security cameras inside and outside of the house not to catch someone breaking into the house or stealing our cars, it was to keep tabs on me. I was literally under house arrest. Jail had more benefits and I was there twice because of her. She would go through my phone records and if she saw a phone call that was over three minutes, she would call that number to see who it was.

You may ask, why did I stick around? I stayed because I had two boys. I stayed because I wanted to make sure they had a Dad in their life, not a dead beat father or some loser who would send them money every once in a while. I protected them from her wrath. She took her anger on me not them.

You probably asked why I didn't call the cops? Why? They take the side of the woman most of the time. They end up arresting you before they arrest her. Besides, its not in a man's blood to admit to being called a coward or a wimp because his 5'2" wife can do damage to someone with the business end of a baseball bat or trying to run me over with the car.

The last five years of my marriage was the worst. She got pissed when she landed herself in jail for assaults on me and called the police on me trying to get me arrested but instead they arrested her. I suffered health issues due to the stress and the beatings. I was beaten, choked out, stabbed, went to the ER twice, had staples in my head after she cracked it open with a vase, sleep deprived, my clothes thrown out, my car destroyed and my 401K drained. I was even reduced to living in the driveway in my broken down car for almost a year with occasional weeks of living in the backyard. My ex used to say, "you act like an animal, I will treat you like one."

It got to the point where when we fought, she say, "Get in the car, we are going to run some errands. A verbal fight would occur and she would stop the car and tell me to get out. I walked home over 50 times in one year. I missed my youngest son's middle school graduation because she thought I would be there to stare at the other mothers there. On the day of his graduation, she left me 35 miles from home and I walked home with no phone, wallet, and with only the clothes on my back. It took me 12 hours to walk home and crossed three county lines. The final tipping point was when she drove me 40 miles from the house and left me there. Said so long. I found a cellphone store, called my sister n law and ended up getting a restraining order.

We were officially separated two year ago after she got me arrested on a trumped up charge and my parents bailed me out. Another restraining order, $20k in lawyer fees, and a whole lot of debt later, I am officially divorced. I wouldn't say I am a victim, I endured and came out alive. Much to my ex-wife's disappointment. And yes, she tried to kill me numerous times. My motto was, "Whatever didn't kill me only made her madder" So, if you think your relationship is bad, let my story cheer you up. Trust me I have more stories that would shock you that I couldn't even make up. 20 years of craziness and it is finally over. Finally divorced from the madness!