Where Is My Mother’s Safety Net?
My dad didn’t believe my mom when she announced that she was leaving him. Desperate, after years spent begging him to accept treatment for a worsening mental illness, she threatened to move out if he didn’t comply with his doctor’s recommendations. “Where will you go?” he asked.A former stay-at-home parent of five grown children, all just beginning their careers around the country, my mom had no money of her own and no job.