Loving a Man in Chains

Tonight I see it clearly — I am the free one.
I’ve walked through my own prisons: my ex-husband’s control, my addiction, the years of craving love that hurt more than it healed. I earned this freedom drop by drop, tear by tear.

And yet my heart still reaches for a man who lives behind invisible bars. His daughter, his guilt, his fear — all real, all heavy. I can feel how small the world must feel to him, how rare the air of laughter must be when he calls me.

But I will not trade my wings for his chains.
I can love him without locking myself away.
I can ache for his peace and still choose my own.

That is what love in the light looks like — compassion without captivity.

My Decision to Leave New York That Changed Me Forever

Leaving New York changed my life forever. It was my home for all my life, but a manic drug induced episode added with the self-destructive behavior of my husband, led me to North Carolina, which is the home I know and love now.

That decision led to my sobriety, and I have learned and grown so much since I left the concrete jungle back on Halloween of 2020. It was mostly due to COVID as to why I left – I was just furloughed from my job, and the job market in NYC was tanking due to the pandemic. It was time to go, and I knew it, plus, my husband had just picked up some larceny charges because he tried to steal a lawn mower in Home Depot, so we wanted to escape. Also, I wanted a new life away from all the drugs in NYC – I figured if I got my husband out of there, we would have a new life. Come to find out, it was worse than ever – you may be able to take the man away from the drugs, but you can’t take the drugs out of the man. He would always be an addict, like I would always be an alcoholic. Unfortunately, I would be the only one to address my addiction and do something about it, he decided to remain an addict, which ultimately led to me leaving him.

As a whole, the decision to leave NYC ended up being the best decision of my life. I have never known a better life here in North Carolina. I have so many friends, I was able to give a home for my boyfriend, (ex now, but I am trying to win him back), I have my independence, and I am living the life I have always wanted to live. It has been a long road to get here, but I don’t think I would have ever separated from my parents if I didn’t leave. I had lived so many years in a prison in their home, drinking into oblivion and ending up in a psych ward every year for almost 2 decades. I thought I would never break free and make a life for myself, and even though I had to go through jail and being homeless to do it, I feel it was all well worth it.

Cheers to living sober, and new beginnings.

Stay Tuned.

Daily writing prompt
Describe a decision you made in the past that helped you learn or grow.

Sacrificing Yourself to Make Someone Else Happy

It’s the one thing you NEVER are supposed to do -and the main thing that I did in my marriage. Sometimes when we are in relationships, we want to do everything for the other person, sacrificing who we are and all our wants and dreams for the happiness of someone else.

It’s the biggest mistake and greatest sacrifice I have ever made, and one of the biggest regrets of my life.

Another sacrifice was that I gave up my friends. My husband was so jealous of any relationship I had outside of ours, whether it was just friendships with men or women. I wanted to be married so bad, and I wanted to be showered by his love so much, that I didn’t care that I had to give those important people up, even though it was very hurtful because I missed them so much. One piece of advice I would give to anyone in a relationship is NEVER give up your friends, you have no idea how much you need them. And what was so hypocritical of me at the time was that I always hated how women used to ditch their friends when they got into a relationship, and I ended up doing the same thing. Lesson learned so remember, don’t throw stones in glass houses.

As I enter into this new world of freedom, now that me and my husband are no longer together, I am very adamant of what I want in the next relationship. All I know is that I will never sacrifice my freedom again, or who I am as a person. I had lost so much of myself in that marriage, and I didn’t even realize that I don’t even know who I am anymore. But being able to discover who I am again, is not a bad thing, it’s just that I didn’t know of how lost I was all those years.

Now, I am happy to report that it’s been six months since my husband has left and I am just now feeling feelings again. Most of it has to do with this very small budding romance that I have going with a very special friend. He has been so supportive during this whole process, and now that it is evolving into something more, I am taking my time and enjoying it for what it is. There is no definite plan and that’s the most beautiful part about it.

Cheers to the next chapter.

Stay tuned.

Daily writing prompt
What sacrifices have you made in life?

I am the Living Embodiment Of “Freedom”

There is something to be said for being single and living on your own – away from the world, tucked away in your own universe. Some would say it’s lonely, but is it really? To be able to watch whatever you want on TV, freedom. To be able to go wherever you want, and be around whoever you want, to stay up as late as you want, pig out whenever you want, absolute freedom. There are so many more examples, but you get the idea.

Freedom to me, is the entire world being open to you – where there are no restrictions on you whatsoever. I wanted to be married more than anything else at one point in my life, but I really don’t think people realize exactly what it means to be married to someone, or even just living with someone. Your sacred safe place is yours and yours alone – where you get to come home after a long day’s work and face just all-encompassing peace and tranquility. A mentor of mine really overstepped the other day when she told a girl she was trying to help that I would put her up for a couple of months because she was going through domestic violence. I feel bad she’s going through that situation, but there is no way in hell I am opening my home to a total stranger after I worked so hard for my independence – especially for a couple of months. I mean am I wrong for thinking how crazy it is for someone else to offer someone MY place to stay? I really wanted to ask her why she didn’t offer up her own place, you know?

Anyway, sorry for sidetracking, we’re talking about freedom.

But wait a minute, isn’t that situation an example of freedom too? Being able to say “NO” is a form of freedom as well. Too many times we feel obligated to say “YES” to people when we really want to say no. As a matter of fact, the first words out of my mouth when she said she told the girl that she could stay with me for a couple of months were, “oh, no, I don’t think so.” She didn’t even ask me; she just straight up told the girl she could stay with me. Sorry, lol, it’s irking me more than it should. But I have the freedom to say “no” if I choose, and I absolutely did.

My freedom is the most precious thing in the world to me these days. I don’t think I will be able to be in a relationship for a very long time because of how much my freedom means to me. It’s not that anyone ever really told me what to do, but there are so many compromises I had to make that I just don’t want to make anymore. What if I want to talk to 5 guys at a time? Haha, I’m not, but I totally could if I wanted to. What if I want to take a trip across the whole world for a weekend – why not? I just love that I could. To me freedom to be absolutely carefree with no responsibilities other than those for myself, is such a gift, and it’s one of the things that God has blessed me with and has shown me what to appreciate.

And of course, the biggest freedom of all – not being dependent on a drug or substance anymore. I don’t think anyone realizes what freedom from addiction really means. People wonder why the people of AA or NA are so giving and kind, or even so helpful – because the FREEDOM is so amazing in itself, they just want to share it with as many people as possible. For me being sober for three years is the biggest example of freedom I could ever have. I just wish my ex-husband could have that too. He is still so deep in it and will be for a long time, because as of right now, going out “once a month and partying” seems to be his MO, and he doesn’t think it’s a big deal. But he isn’t free, he is still hooked, and being slave to that is a feeling I never want to have again.

And of course, finally, real freedom is being able to live here in America. A land that I love, that has given me so much opportunity. I never thought I would live in a world where I thought twice about actually saying that out loud, but I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t mention how grateful I am to be here in the land of the free.

Stay tuned.

Daily writing prompt
What does freedom mean to you?

So Many Risks, So Little Time

There are so many risks I don’t regret, it’s hard to just narrow it down to one. Life is risk, walking out your door is risk, but taking chances with your life is one you shouldn’t take – but one that I have many times over. Being in the mental health system for so long, and also using drugs with my husband, I found myself in various situations where I could have died – either shot dead by a drug dealer, overdosing by the wrong drug, or just crashing into another car because of all the reckless driving I did while high – all of those are risks I don’t regret because it reminds me of where I never want to be again, and it also, (if I am being morbidly honest), let me experience life in a way in which I actually got to “live on the edge.”

But for argument’s sake, the one risk I will NEVER regret, is the one I took when I left New York. I had just gotten furloughed from my job during COVID, and me and my husband decided on just a crazy whim to leave all our furniture on the street and pack up whatever we could fit in my car and head to North Carolina. Being separated from him now, I honestly romanticize that part the most because we embarked on a wild adventure together that would land us both in jail for a year, then him in a pysch hospital for another whole year, and me in a homeless shelter/rehab for 15 more months. We took a lot of risks in those years, just going back in forth in the justice system, boosting stuff from stores to feed our habit, and just living a Bonnie and Clyde fantasy existence. I want to say I regret all of that too, but again, it was an experience like no other that was the epitome of adventure compared to my previous long, boring existence.

That move to North Carolina was something I could have never done on my own – I needed someone, the catalyst, the inspiration that a writer would need to make that leap into a book, that muse that artists crave so bad, that push that only God can give sometimes. I always believed my husband was my greatest downfall, but he was my rescuer as well. I would have forever lived my life in a room in a corner of my parent’s house like I did for so many years, with no hope of ever moving out on my own or getting my own life. Have you ever been stuck in a rut that lasted years? That’s where I was before this move.

Today, I live on my own independently, three years happily sober, with my wonderful little place, nice car and decent job. I may be single again, but my ex will always hold a place in my heart as the man who I took the biggest risks of my life with – the most beneficial one being the move from New York to North Carolina.

Without risk, there is no reward, and I am living that reward today.

Stay tuned.

Daily writing prompt
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

Moving on, New Guestroom!

This room took a lot of work and soul searching. I had let this back room sit for months with all of my husband’s stuff all over, looking at it every day and getting more and more depressed. Moving on has been really hard; I listened to “Green Eyes” by ColdPlay today and started bawling my eyes out because it’s a song he used to sing to me in jail to keep him going. I feel guilty that I used to keep him going. His mom tells me I am the only friend he has in the world, and it’s so hard for me to hear that because I had to walk away.

This process has been both painful and freeing. I have never felt so confident, and proud, and at the same time so sad. I loved this man with all my heart. I know he is so bad for me. He has been in the streets so much since he has been back in New York, (I sent him on a bus back there from my house months ago), and all he has done is gone down a path of self-destruction. He has no purpose, no direction, and all he can see are those drugs – those are his obsession, and as much as he wants to say he loves me – he loves them more.

But my second bedroom is finished, and I am moving on with my life. Now I have a place for my friends to stay over when they need to. I feel accomplished and like I’m moving in the right direction.

Cheers to moving on!

Stay Tuned.

Serendipitous Post – Name a Phase in Life That Was Difficult to Let Go Of – I Bought JLO’s “This is Me Now” Tickets

I say this because I am going to the concert in the summer alone, which is scary considering the world we live in, but it won’t stop me from saying goodbye to an era by seeing an Icon in concert that I grew up with.

I saw Jennifer Lopez a lot when I lived in the Bronx in the mid-90s. I used to ride the 6 train to work from a station not too far away from Castle Hill Avene where she used to live. She was big in dance studios back then, always practicing, relentless at what she wanted in life. I wanted to be a dancer too, but let’s face it, my experience only came from Salsa and Bachata at half the Latin clubs in NYC with my fake ID. Who was I kidding?

I listened to “This is Me Now,” the single on her newest album in 10 years tonight, and I realized how much we actually have in common. My quest for love drove me most of my life. I ignored every red flag, throwing myself into failed relationship after failed relationship, because like JLO said, “they asked me what I wanted to be, and a woman in love is what I wanted to grow up to be.” I wanted love SO badly, absolutely every waking moment, that I pushed my dreams aside, my career aside, even my health aside for this quest of blissful matrimony I always wanted.

So, what’s the phase that I want to let go of? The “Love” phase of my life as I call it. It’s the time period between 2005-2019 – 15 years of unrelented searching, because honestly, those were such dark years. I looked up a past blog, and the things I wrote about were so heartbreaking, that I couldn’t imagine why or how I did that to myself. During this “Love” phase, I hurt so bad, I gave myself to men, I had no respect for myself, and when I FINALLY found someone to love me completely, he led me down a road of sex, drugs, addiction, and incarceration and crime. So much for happily ever after, with my loving husband.

Today, I realize that “Love” is just a state of mind. If you have it, more power to you, I’m happy for you. For me, it was an obsession. I used to agonize that I was too fat and ugly to ever find someone to love me, not only am I much FATTER now, but my husband loved me no matter what size I was, which is the way it should be.

Today, I have entered a new phase of life. I have put jail and rehab behind me, I even sent my husband back to New York to stay with his family, while I start a new life in another state. And I find it serendipitous that the daily prompt tonight is this topic, because tonight when I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw the ad for JLO’s upcoming concert in the summer. I was hesitant at first, I mean years ago I would have jumped on this opportunity, but like I mentioned, being in the city and going to a big concert like that alone might not be the best idea, but I think I owe to myself to close that era of my life by supporting the woman who I loved watching evolve over the years. Through her movies and music, I always saw JLO as a dreamer of love, much like myself. So, I am going to the city and renting a hotel room and spending a night celebrating myself. (I will be sure to check in with friends and family throughout the night, so don’t worry).

I am turning 44 this year, and for the first time in my life, I am completely independent with my own home, car, career, friends and family after spending 20 years stuck in a loop in hospitals of the mental health system, and incarceration for 10 months thereafter. From a life spiraling downward for so many years, to bouncing back and making a success out of it – I realize that the “Love” I had been pining for so long, was all I needed to give to myself and no one else.

So, at three years sober, I will say “Cheers” (with a mocktail), and here’s to clean living and a bright future, and that difficult phase of life that I had to say goodbye to. I earned my stripes with it, and I needed to go through it to be where I am today. So, with that let me say thank you as well.

Stay tuned.

Daily writing prompt
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.

I Want to Remember This Day

So many things, and so many blogs later, I finally have a day I want to remember. Looking back on all those years of pain, I have come to a precipice where I can finally say I feel on top of the world. I just had the best sex of my life tonight, and maybe it’s the overwhelming dopamine that has me so high, but it’s also the placement of all the chess pieces that are finally in place.

Things aren’t easy. Some days are tougher than others and living with my husband after being alone for so long is definitely an adjustment. But nights like this I want to remember and look back on as the reason why we both put so much effort into our marriage after all we’ve been through.

I look into his eyes, and I see the overwhelming love for me.

His kiss still gives me chills even after all this time.

I have walked through Hell and back with him – Jails, Institutions and Death as they say in recovery, and he has been at the center of my mind the whole time.

I have experienced things with this man that I have never felt with anyone before in my life – I walked through madness with him by my side, and he accepted me with my flaws and all.

He allows me to be myself, no matter how critical I see my shortcomings and supports me in all my endeavors.

I never got to say my vows to him like I wanted to the first time around, so I will solve that here.

Stay tuned.

The Day My Husband Proposed in My Safe Haven

Daily writing prompt
Describe one of your favorite moments.

So, everyone has a special place they go to, where no one knows, and you can just be yourself. For me it was a church that was buried in the back of a busy street in downtown Valley Stream, New York. I would go there after therapy for years around 3pm every Tuesday. The church was left open, so anyone could worship in private during the day, and when I went there at 3pm, no one was there. It was just me, in this beautiful building, praying to God to help me find a way out of the life I was living.

When I met my husband, we already had fell madly in love almost instantly. I never took anyone to my special church because it was something private that I shared only with God. But on the afternoon October 24th, 2019, I took my husband there and as I prayed, he lit some candles for us, and then sat down quietly and prayed with me. All in all, it was a beautiful experience.

Little did I know, it wouldn’t end there. Upon leaving the church, and sharing a chaste kiss at the doors, he took me by the hand and said, “He approves, it’s official.” Of course, I said, “what do you mean?” He replied, “God told me that you are my meant to be, my wife.” And I cried.

And even though we have been apart for two years now, I will never forget that day as being one the most favorite moments of my life. Our love is still powerful and strong, even though I have not been able to hold in my arms at night in a very long time. Does true love really exist? I think for us it truly does. He was the man of my dreams for as long as I can remember, and that beautiful moment we shared is forever in my heart and lasts the test of time to this day.

My absolute favorite moment for sure.

Stay tuned.

Focused Despite a Pandemic, Bipolar, Addiction, Relationships, and Uncertainty

steps Those are the concrete steps I fell in a freefall backward, in which I could have died by breaking my neck. How I survived that fall with just some stitches on my head and a broken wrist, I shall never know. Of course, we all know the culprit – alcohol, which is ridiculously accessible during these times – even delivered to your door via the Drizzly app. An interesting thing isn’t it – that such a deadly substance is obtained so easily now, and many, many people are drowning their sorrows in it, especially for those of us losing certain unemployment benefits as of this week.

But that’s not the reason for my post today.

I was supposed to get married a week before that fall down those steps, and my parents and my fiance’s parents being what they are, canceled our wedding in some sort of punishment as if we are both teenagers recklessly in love. There is some truth to the reckless love part – we have almost nothing in common, except of course music – which unites us in a way 90’s R&B and rap songs usually do – it brings us back to a time in our life when things were simpler, more comfortable and just made sense.

I have spent a good portion of my life looking for true love. There were times in my life I thought I have felt it, but this man, the one I am going to marry, makes me feel the love so deeply that it moves me to tears even as I type. Our primary common bond is, of course, mental illness, in which certain parts of it come out of both of us, bad and good.

He hears voices and conversations and has delusions I try and cope with and understand, while he deals with my constant yelling and flip-flop moods of this horrible bipolar. We are hardly the perfect match, but the abundance of love that comes from the both of us to each other is undeniable – oh and as a bonus, two people who have incredibly vibrant mental illness issues have, without a doubt, the best sex life on the planet, at least for me it is.

But besides the sex, which is explosive and out of this world, on top of all things, I picked up a drug habit that I share with him now. I explained a little bit about this in my last post, and, ironically, I spent my entire life avoiding hard drugs and now I am a full-blown addict on top of my bipolar disorder. I have kept it quiet, of course, not broadcasting it on social media or even to any of my friends, but I know this drug addiction is killing our relationship. All of our fights, and I do mean all of them, have been around this habit – either fighting about money to get it, or the fact that he sits there and watches hours of porn in front of me as we do it together, (I won’t even go into how many fights there were about that one), it’s just the fact that I don’t want to do the drug anymore.

There is something to be said about incarceration or, in my case, 10 months in a psychiatric hospital. I spent most of 2018 and 2019 in a hospital (this happened twice), and honestly, I believe it cured me of any addiction I have ever had. I had a bad alcohol addiction most of my life – mostly, which I blame my violent, drunk father for (like father like daughter apparently), but I was really cured of it before I met my fiance.

Experimenting with cocaine has been an invigorating experience, and when I got the chance to mix it with both Vicodin and alcohol, suffice to say, I was hooked. That freefall came from a night of coke and alcohol, both of which the Emergency Room found in my blood, but luckily my landlord only knew about the drinking when he called my parents – (oh yeah, the cops were called, and they thought my fiance pushed me down the stairs, and my landlord threatened to kick us out).

After that incident, I haven’t touched an ounce of liquor, but I have been drowning more and more down the cocaine drain. And when we do it together, we’re okay for a while, then the worst comes out in both of us when we want more, and we just don’t have the money for it. I am currently negative $377.00 in my account due to the last binge, with rent due in a week or so. My fiance is working delivering pizzas with my car, which I can’t afford the payments on either, and we plan on getting high tonight, or at least he wants to, and I feel almost forced because I need some sort of pick-me-up.

This vicious cycle goes on and on, with every binge we break each other’s hearts, and I don’t know if it’s the fact that he has nowhere to go and I have nowhere to go that we stay together. We are so co-dependent; and we are both abusive – me calling him a worthless piece of shit and a loser, and telling him that I hate his guts – to him calling me an ugly whore and on and on. I have never been in such a volatile relationship, but we hang on to each other tightly because we know each other’s “crazy” really well. I once told him, “my crazy knows your crazy” because it really does.

I don’t know what will come of this – all I know is we hide this from everyone, employers, parents, friends, family, and landlord – and when we do it, we always want more, it’s never ever enough.

All I know is I’m trapped, and I am screaming on the inside every day. The cocaine brings me high and makes me incredibly focused, something I think rich people get off on; that’s why they are so successful, I mean stockbrokers are cranking in billions a year. But I know it’s my downfall and either my fiance or I am going to get really hurt – I mean I almost died down those steps so what’s next?

Probably death or jail.

Stay tuned