The Party Was Over Before It Even Got Started

When I left the courthouse, I was floating on Cloud Nine. For the first time since this whole mess started, I had something to finally be happy about. It actually felt like the tightness in my neck muscles, which I affectionately refer to as "my noose that has been strangling me since my wedding day" was finally loosening up a bit. For a brief period of time, I was one happy camper. However, I knew better than to think that Dick wouldn't try to screw things up somehow. He was not going to let me enjoy any victories whatsoever.

And just as I had expected, he didn't disappoint. When he came home from work in the early afternoon, he was in a foul mood, changed his clothes and stormed out of the house. A few hours later he returned. I was in Josh's room, which is my new "home away from home," when Dick barged in holding the checkbook in one hand and an envelope from the bank in the other. Sensing this was not going to be good, the tension began rising in my body as the noose around my neck resumed its strangling grip. With the look of sheer loathing in his eyes, Dick stared at me and said, "Here is the cash I am supposed to give you. I want you to count it in front of me to make sure that it is all there." I counted the money and told him that indeed it was the right amount. Waving the checkbook at me he said, "Now you know that you are no longer allowed to use this." "That is not true at all," I answered, fully aware of the sudden surge of the stress hormones that were flooding my system in anticipation of the battle that was about to be waged. "Oh yes," he continued. "I talked to my attorney three times today and she said that since I am giving you cash, you are no longer permitted to use the checkbook. In addition, this money is to be used for groceries and necessities for the house." I responded with, "That is not what the judge said at all. I was in the courtroom and he specifically said that there was not enough money in the checkbook to hold me over for the next several days. The money you had to give me is in addition to what is in the checkbook, not instead of what is there." I continued, "He never said I was now responsible for food and other items." This exchange erupted into a full-blown altercation. When the dust finally settled, Dick took the checkbook, hid it and left for his trip early the next morning.