Eight Months Pregnant, I Came To Court For A Divorce – But When My Husband’s Mistress Hit Me In Front Of Everyone, The Judge Suddenly Ordered The Courtroom Sealed-tete – Reading Times

I thought the hardest part would be entering the Hartford District Court without anyone by my side while the morning sun hit the cold marble floors. My eight month pregnant belly felt heavy and my swollen ankles pulsed with a dull ache that made every step toward the courtroom feel like a marathon.

People often imagine that divorce is a grand explosion of emotion or a dramatic cinematic climax, but my experience was defined by the quiet misery of digging through unpaid medical bills at midnight. It was the exhaustion of sleeping on my friend Megan’s cramped sofa while trying to stay hopeful for the baby kicking rhythmically against my ribs.

That morning, I convinced myself that I could endure the public shame of being alone because I had already survived the wreckage of my marriage.