Empowering Pals
As the fifth of eight children growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother struggling to make ends meet, I concluded early in life that taking care of myself was mostly up to me. Thirty years later and in an unhealthy marriage I still clung to that childhood belief. As my marriage continued in a desperate decline, I remained cautious with confidants. Countless kind friends were willing to give a listening ear or a bit of advice, but the combination of my fear of being found out and my shame for being in a bad marriage kept me acting
