Friday the thirteenth.
An auspicious date to start this, my first entry in this blog-universe.
If you have read my bio to the right you already know that this is a exorcism of sorts.

It has been seven months since “M” abandoned our home. It was the next day that I asked my neighbor "Ka" to come over so I could tell her what had happened. She stood in my kitchen as I sobbed until I choked, continually shaking her head in astonishment repeating how shocked she was that "M" had left . One month later I discovered that since the death of her husband in July 2006 "Ka" had been cheating with my husband and assisted him in constructing his lies and betrayal while pretending to be my friend. I had fed her and her husband while he was ill, drank wine on their deck pretending to be jolly to cheer them both, helped arrange the funeral for her husband. I provided her with a beautiful framed photograph of her husband that she carried in her arms down the church aisle thanking all of us who supported her. I believe it was the night of the funeral that my husband began planning how he would manipulate the widow “Ka”. She was a widow who owns property. After all, I was a widow with property when we met. This is something he is very good at.

It’s been three months since I contacted his two ex-wives and discovered that “M” had physically and emotionally abused them both. Even arrested once for his abuse. Yes. He was physically abusive to me as well. It's been two months since I warned “Ka” and gave her their phone numbers, gave her the letter “M” wrote confessing that he had been physically violent to me, as well as the photos I had taken years ago of the bruises on my arms and breast that he had left. She called early the next morning to say that she was “breaking up” with “M” that evening. It was over. Now, a month and a half later, she is back with him, spending the night at his apartment. Just four miles away, all in the same damn zipcode.

And as he warned me over and over in the early emails after his abandonment “I WILL be living next door. Can you handle that?"

That is indeed the question. Can I handle it?

What a strange place to be. Surreal and painful. How did I get here?

Worthy of a good exorcism.