Divorced, Broke, Living With Mom

One woman’s story about how life forced her to swallow her pride to survive—and, eventually, to thrive.

Self

I’m 38 years old, and my two kids and I have moved into my mother’s house. “You are my worst fear come true,” an acquaintance tells me as she confesses that she’s thinking of leaving her husband and is worried about the financial consequences. I’m also mid-divorce, and moving back into my childhood home was the one thing I thought I’d never do. No grown woman wants to live with her mother. I have my dignity.

Then again, I never thought I’d get into my current financial situation. When my ex and I married 10 years ago, I was a lawyer at a big firm, working long hours and hating the tedium. Back then, we weren’t living the high life: I was paying off student loans, he was starting on Wall Street, and we shared a studio with a sliding door between the kitchenette and bathroom. My father joked, “You could fry eggs and piss at the same time.”

But my ex was in finance, so eventually we upgraded to a loft with a writing nook for me. I’d made my last loan payment, and his salary was now enough to support us both. I told myself I needed a break from corporate life. I was yearning to be a writer…read more here.