WTG for leaving your abusive marriage. Sounds like you are making a new and better life for yourself. I can't say I weathered the storm as well as you did. It seems all the good in me was slowly peeled away and all that was left was me scrambling in an empty void of nothingness. Lost and confused. But I do have to say I was damaged goods before I entered the marriage. It seems I am a magnet that draws abusive folks my way. So I pretty much lay low.

Oh, my x, l2 years after the divorce, still believes he did nothing wrong. I think all I wanted to hear him say that he was sorry for the way he treated me. But how can he do that when he feels he did nothing wrong? Shrugs shoulders. Bottom line is they seldom own up to being abusive. But then the pattern shows up in our kids. I worry for my son. He treats his girlfriends the way his dad treated me. He can be brutal with his words and is controlling and hurtful. He has never hit a girl. Yet I worry. So staying in an abusive marriage “for the kid’s sake” really isn’t a wise thing to do.