- Dec 19, 2019
The year that my third child was born was a year of big changes for me. We had bought a beautiful new house, my true “dream home,” I had taken on a promotion at work, my grandmother passed away and I discovered my husband had been unfaithful to me steadily for the last 5 years. It’s such a cliché but, of course, I had found out by listening to his cell phone messages one day as we were having “date night,” but that’s a story for a different day. Part and parcel of finding out your partner has been unfaithful is feeling hurt, angry and worthless. When your partner has chosen to be unfaithful by visiting scores of prostitutes, your doctor becomes a part of the nightmare. My baby was just 3 weeks old when I had a complete STD panel and took my first HIV test. By the time Thanksgiving approached, it was time for my second test. Lucky me! What a great way to get into the holiday spirit, right?
Our family doctor was a wizened and kindly man who had absorbed word of my husband’s behavior with professional courtesy, a hug and a shoulder that I cried on for several minutes. As I went into his office that brisk November day (San Diego brisk, so like 58 degrees), I considered myself to be in a much better place physically and mentally than I had been in August. (In August, I had lost 18 pounds in 3 weeks and had been angry, depressed or angry most of the time – yes I said angry twice, because that’s how I felt.) I went in and exchanged pleasantries with my doctor’s wife (she was his office manager) gave my blood and urine and decided not to focus on the fact that I was undergoing STD testing due to the misbehavior of my husband. Two days later I received a phone call from my doctor asking me a lot of questions about my liver and whether I had been exposed to hepatitis C at any point that I was aware of. Not being an IV drug user nor a prostitute, I had only one idea of where I could have been exposed to such a thing. The next week was Thanksgiving and here I was taking my four-month old baby in to be tested for Hepatitis C. With the elevated levels in my blood, the concern was that she might have been infected. If she had it, her life expectancy would be about 15 years. This, of course, is all because her father couldn’t stay faithful to her mother. To this day I don’t have a lot of memories of anything else but getting the phone call the day before the holiday letting me know she had tested negative. As it would turn out, only my husband had contracted the disease.
Please share your story with us at mystory@50fabulousandfinallyfree.com
#Hepatitis #STDs #NewbornBaby #CheatingHusband #Prostitutes #HIVTesting #UnfaithfulSpouse #WomensStruggles #ToxicRelationship #VerbalAbuse #Denial #Dangerous #Sadness #AbusiveRelationship #EmbarrassingRelationships #Manipulation #Women #Fear #FeelingAlone #Control #YoureNotAlone #Questions #Regrets #Husband #EmotionalAbuse #Heartbreak #Sociopath #Children #Horror #Anger #Health #PhysicalAbuse #Thanksgiving #Isolation #Snapchat #Twitter #Instagram #Facebook #Pinterest #MarriedToASociopath #BeingMarriedToASociopath #DivorcingASociopath #ProtectingYourFamilyFromANarcissist #MarriedToANarcissist #BeingMarriedToANarcissist #DivorcingANarcissist #Narcissist #Narcissistic #GrowingUpAbused #PsycologicalAbuse #BeingAbused #LivingWithAnAbuser #Abuse #Deception #Deceipt #YourNotAlone #50Divorced
- Dec 16, 2019
Loving Yourself
My favorite gift to myself is the Dyson Blow Dryer. You should add this to your holiday wish-list! I can’t even begin to explain how it actually works, but it does! It is pricey (at $399.99) but it makes drying your hair a breeze. It doesn't make the room or ME nearly as hot as other hair dryers (for me a huge plus) and with its high velocity focused airflow it dries my hair quickly. It feels lighter and leaves my hair really smooth. The heat shield technology keeps the surface cool. The powerful motor is tuned to produce one inaudible frequency and it’s surrounded by a vibration reduction system. A bonus, it doesn't have the fan, which would occasionally catch a hair making me panic, and all of the attachments are magnetic. Wait for your "VIB" 20% discount card from Sephora. Bed Bath and Beyond excludes it with their discount coupons. Nordstrom and Ulta Beauty have special holiday bundles for the same price that includes a cushioned presentation box stitched in purple, with a magnetic closure.
- Dec 16, 2019
New tradition??? The best part about this is that you can easily prep and cook it while working on your other Thanksgiving dishes or you can make it a few days ahead of time. Letting it settle in the fridge for a few days actually helps the flavors blend. This also makes it a great potluck side dish.
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1-1b package of fresh cranberries
½ cup of other fruit or berry (for this recipe we used clementine tangerines)
Directions:
Bring water to a low boil, add sugar stirring constantly until dissolved. Add fruit and reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 20 more minutes. Keep an eye on the pot and adjust heat as needed. Remove from heat and let cool. Once mixture has cooled, pour into a food processor and pulse until mixture is smooth. Strain further according to taste. (I like getting little bits of berry in mine so I don’t!) Chill for at least 2 hours and then serve. Enjoy!
