Hi Lonelywife!<BR>How are you doing??? I have not forgotten<BR>you and the issues you deal with!<BR>I am wondering what is happening for you?<BR>Please update!!!!<P>Big hugs to you!!!!<BR>Love & prayers,<BR>Renae<BR>

Hello Renae,<P>Thanks for remembering me. Sorry for not posting for quite a while but I haven't been able so sign in for a few weeks.<P>I had a horrible cold, mostly a severe chest congestion with cough, that I had to miss work for a week. At the same time, my mom was in the hospital having surgery, my husband was working almost 20 hours a day, and I was running back and forth from home, work and hospital.<P>I also posted in your thread.<P>Renae, I can understand your reluctance to leave. I was very abused, yet I did not want to give up the dream of my marriage. To me marriage was once and only once. But it was not meant to be. Now that I look back, he was a very selfish and self-centred person who did not love me but was only using me to further himself.<P>I was such an innocent person at that time and that experience changed me completely. I have become a very strong person now and know that regardless of how many friends or family there are, I can only depend on myself to do the things I want to accomplish in this life.<P>I just hope that what you are going through will also help you become a stronger/better person, although you seem to be like that already.<P>Take care and lots of hugs.

Thank you, Lonelywife, for your words of encouragement to me!<P>It is good to hear from you!<BR>It sounds like you have alot going on these days! Then with the holidays on top of this, we are really buzzing!!<P>Stop back here when you can and update on how the marriage and all is going!<P>Hugs,<BR>Renae <P>

Hello Renae,<P>It is sad to see you having to go through such a rough period at this time of year. But you can leave only when you are ready regardless of the abuse you have to suffer.<P>I was so abused - clumps of my hair pulled out, choking (so I couldn't swallow without pain for two weeks), my head bashed against a wall, biting my breasts, etc., etc., etc.<P>Yet I did not tell anyone and suffered through it because I did not want my marriage to end. Everyone was telling me I should leave but the more I was told to do so, the more determined I became to stay.<P>I had no reason to stay - I was making all the money. He had just come to this country, so he was completely dependent on me even though he was a doctor. He was such a sweet liar, even if I told anyone about the abuse, no one would have believed that he was capable of it.<P>But now I'm glad I got rid of him. I cannot believe now how starstruck I was with him, even through all the abuse.<P>I hope you are not doing the same thing I did and hanging in there despite what everyone is saying. It will only prolong the agony.<P>Hope you don't mind my preaching but I hope that my experience can help you in some way. Take care and post soon. Lots of hugs.<p>[This message has been edited by lonelywife (edited December 10, 2000).]