In a culture that reveres marriage and especially long term marriage, marriage vows come first but that shouldn’t always be the case:
My daughter said, “Mommy, I want to leave here. I want to be able to sleep in peace. I don’t want to be scared all the time.” That’s when it hit me that I was putting my marriage vow in front of my children’s well-being and that could not be. ~ Vivianne
Vivianne and her husband were married for eleven years and they had two children who were aged about seven and one, when Vivianne left. Vivianne felt she had an obligation to work through their marital issues and it wasn’t until her husband terrorize her for 48 hours that she realized her situation had moved to a new dangerous level and it was time to break her marriage vows.
If you’re in an abusive situation, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help – 1800-799-7233.