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<\/div>\n\u201cWhy would you leave the Golden Goose?\u201d my husband asked. I had gone to him and told him it felt lonely being married to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was thinking of leaving. Once I did, his self-appointed monetary significance escalated to indescribable arrogance.<\/p>\n
We owned three homes and spent summers at the Jersey Shore.\u00a0We had a house in Naples, no financial worries, and enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe careful \u2014\u00a0don\u2019t bite the hand that feeds you,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you leave me I\u2019ll make sure there\u2019s no money and you work for the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
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These comments were a smug nod to his success.\u00a0Ironic because it was due to a business and investment property I had helped him build. But our morphed roles of traditional working dad and stay-at-home mom increasingly deluded his reality.<\/p>\n
My husband fancied himself the big provider.\u00a0The man who looked after the little woman. What would poor little ol\u2019 me do without him and gasp, why would I ever leave this lifestyle?<\/p>\n
He actually believed he had built an entire life on his own.<\/p>\n
But he underestimated me, or should I say my values.<\/p>\n
I left those three homes.\u00a0They no longer had any significance. They were only meaningful while love lived between their walls. Not when tears closed their doors to laughter.<\/p>\n
Values have a way of creeping up on you\u00a0in discontent.<\/p>\n
They force you to itemize your personal liabilities.\u00a0Which inevitably takes us back to what\u2019s most important. I had spent these years of unhappiness fighting and risking everything for love.<\/p>\n
This is who I was once the world was dialed back.<\/p>\n
I prioritized love.\u00a0My husband prioritized money. It wasn\u2019t any wonder I was lonely. Our marriage was never going to work.<\/p>\n
One house, three houses, or no houses.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0read this great piece\u00a0by Elle Silver and I won\u2019t lie:\u00a0I was initially traumatized my husband kept his word and hid all of our assets. How was it possible I once owned three homes and now have to live in an apartment?<\/p>\n
Elle inspired me to write this because I ended up in an apartment not because of our assets being split \u2014 but because my husband wanted to punish me for leaving him.<\/p>\n
He used to say, \u201cYou\u2019re never going to win, Colleen.\u201d<\/p>\n
To which I would reply, \u201cIf you think there\u2019s winning and losing in love, you\u2019ve already lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
An apartment is a loss to the Golden Goose, aka, my husband.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately,\u00a0I don\u2019t think he remembers that fairytale.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fairytale based on values.\u00a0It was generosity that landed Simpleton\u00a0the Golden Goose. After that, the townspeople clamor and greedily follow and attempt to pluck the feathers.<\/p>\n
Like my husband, they never understand the true value of riches.<\/p>\n
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