The most wonderful time of the year

I came home for the holidays, my favorite time of the year, around this time last week. The first few days I immersed myself in Christmas shopping and decorating, ridding myself of any remaining thoughts of the previous semester. However, this past Sunday, right before my return to work, I began thinking about families during the holidays. A particular family actually.

I began imagining Melissa (let's just call her that), and her family during this tiring, but cheerful season. Melissa is married to the most insufferable man I have ever met. In my own opinion, the man resembles a dwarf, but that is completely beside the point. Sort of. Every time this man walks into our work everyone rolls their eyes and clears out of the way. I'm fairly sure he's made a pass at every single woman that works there and if not that then some sort of demeaning comment. Fortunately for me, I've experienced both. Luckily, I don't mind dealing with grumpy older men, somehow it comes to me easily. It's only when he talks down to his wife, which is constantly, that he bothers me. How dare this man belittle his wife, who is earning all of their families money, while he spends years attempting to swindle money for the government and taking her money to supply his addiction to pain killers. Not to mention his seven year old son whom he's showing all of these bad habits to. Melissa's mother has been begging her to leave him for years now, and while she knows she should, she never seems to have the courage to. I've never actually thought about why a woman would stay in this type of relationship for this long until this point but it truly is a double edged sword. I imagined leaving your husband close to the holidays and not even knowing where to start from that point, and then I imagined having to spend the holidays with him, a reincarnated Grinch stuffed into a doped up dwarfs body. Needless to say my heart went out to her. As much as Melissa may have irritated me at time, I would never wish to be in her position, and I wished that one day she would have the courage to leave him.

That same Sunday, I went in to work and was talking to another coworker. She mentioned a party they had the night before at work, and she later mentioned it was Melissa's going away party. I was astonished. Melissa was one of the most knowledgable people there, where on earth could she have went? Seeing my reaction, my coworker explained her husband had been physically abusing her and he took it too far around Thanksgiving. Melissa had apparently put her two weeks in, packed her belonging and took her child to Arizona with her to stay with her mother. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I had never in a million years expected this to happen, especially without me even getting to say goodbye. Yet, I have never in twenty years felt so proud of someone. She frequently calls and tells us how she's doing, and the first time I picked up the phone and heard her tell me she was in Albuquerque that night, my eyes filled with tears.

I guess Christmas wishes do come true.