The Will
"She got upset because neither she nor her kids were in my will… I was a single mom, and we’d only been together for three months."
The Missing Hamster
"Her boyfriend fed my hamster to his snake. Yes, I came home to find my two-year-old hamster gone. I was totally devastated—then I found a video of it on his Facebook page."
New Year’s Eve Realization
"It was 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day. We were at the airport, about to head out for a party. He was still drunk from the night before, stomping behind me like a big kid, yelling, ‘You know I hate early flights! Why did you book such an early one?’ Then came the final blow when he hissed, ‘You’re so stupid.’ I stopped, turned around, and just stared at him. My inner voice asked, ‘What are you doing with this guy?’ I walked out of the airport and left him there."
Debt
"We refinanced our house to pay off credit card debt. Six months later, I sat down at the computer and saw he hadn’t logged out of Windows—and there was $20,000 in credit card debt again. The next day, I packed my things and told him he could either keep the house in his name or move out. He chose to stay. A year later, he had to sell the house to pay off his debts."
Jealousy
"He had the nerve to say he was jealous because someone slept with me when I was still thinner."
Heart Surgery
"An ex cheated on me while I was recovering from heart surgery. I broke up with him immediately. It was a tough lesson, but I learned it well."
Grief
"Our relationship was already strained for many reasons, but when my grandmother died, he told me I shouldn’t be ‘so sad’ because she lived in another country and I hadn’t spent much time with her anyway."
Concert
"We went to a concert where I met his friends for the first time. He got terribly drunk beforehand, even though he said he’d been sober for two years. Then he called me by his ex-girlfriend’s name and told me to get lost… so I did. He begged me to forgive him, but I’m not willing to sacrifice my peace of mind."
Secret Photos
"I wanted to send myself a photo he took, so he handed me his phone to find it. I already knew he had a foot fetish and found some secretly taken pictures of my feet—that didn’t bother me much. But then I found the sneaky photos… of MY MOM’S feet. That was the end of our relationship."
One Step from Tragedy
"He was very drunk and found the car keys I’d hidden from him. I told him I wouldn’t let him leave like that and that I’d sleep on the couch if needed (we’d lived together for over a year). He got in the car parked in our garage, and I stood right behind him, begging him not to drive. He put the car in reverse and would have hit me if I hadn’t jumped onto the trunk and rolled off to avoid him. That was it. I don’t need that kind of danger in my life."
