It had been a long thirteen years. Three years ago I'd accidentally seen my husband at a restaurant during lunch with a young woman. My only friend had invited me to lunch and I'd met her at that restaurant.
We'd had lunch and I was just returning to my car when I noticed my husband drive into the restaurant. I started to get out of the car and say hello when another car pulled in next to him. A younger woman got out of her car and walked to my husband. They kissed long and passionately.
I was shocked and had great difficulty driving home but before he was off work I drove to his place and waited. He and the woman came out and each got into their own car.
When she pulled away my husband followed her to an apartment and they walked upstairs together and kissed as she opened the door.
It was the beginning of the end for me with him.
I'd married him at nineteen just as he'd finished University. He was four years older and there were five years things went well but then it seemed suddenly he'd changed.
He didn't want me to work nor have my own friends. I was a stay-at-home wife because he insisted. We had no children and he didn't like me leaving the home except to do the errands he assigned me such as grocery shopping.
After that first five years our relationship became more and more dissociated it seemed. At first the sex slowly dropped to about once a month but then after six years it ended and I'd been without since that time and not knowing why. I began trying everything but each time he pushed me away and then began cursing me and telling me to leave him alone. He moved out of the bedroom into another room. After eight years I began gaining weight. I'd always been chunky but now the weight slowly grew putting me over two hundred by year eleven.
After catching him with the other woman I felt sorry for myself but still wanted to try and salvage something from our marriage. He would have none of my suggestions and I remained committed but then as our thirteenth anniversary approached and arrived he didn't even acknowledge me. A month later I began my own effort to pursue protection of my interests. I borrowed a camera from my parents and began taking photos of the two of them together.
Another two months and I sat down with my husband and told him what I knew and I wanted him to stop. He cursed me and I was afraid he was going to hit me then he called me more serious names and told me I was fat and I was responsible for everything that was wrong.
With my Dad's help I found a lawyer, gave him the pics I'd taken and information he said he needed then filed for divorce. When my husband found out he swore I'd get nothing and he moved out.
My lawyer then subpoenaed my husband's financial records including tax returns and payroll information.
I'd never known what was happening in our finances except for the checking account but it turned out after telling me for years that his pay had been cut. He told me he'd never received a raise and was afraid to leave the company but now I'd found he'd been lying to me.
He would cash his check before coming home and then give me what he wanted to put in our checking account. He had withheld large sums without my knowledge. My lawyer found that he'd had at least six mistresses during those years and gave them lavish gifts including paying their rent and assisting them in car payments. It had been going on for years.
When we'd completed ten years of house payments my husband had insisted on selling and buying a much smaller place. I didn't realize how much equity we'd built up in the house and he didn't tell me. I didn't even realize how much the house had appreciated in value over those ten years. I was the perfect patsy for him.
The newer house had been equipped with a long, narrow new swimming pool in the backyard. The yard had been fenced with eight foot high wooden slats and two outside gates that were equipped with combination padlocks. The realtor had told us the former owner had put in the pool to increase property values but then the housing market bottomed out. My now ex husband had offered half the requested selling price and was amazed when the offer was accepted. Also my ex had no interest in the pool and told me I could either drain it or decide to clean it myself because he was not going to pay for pool cleaners. I had no alternative but to begin cleaning it although we neither one used it for those years. I didn't like my body and didn't want to see myself in a swimsuit. I did drain the pool and refill it every year and because I did all the check writing after he deposited the money I managed to not mention the increased water bill those months. My husband wouldn't be bothered paying the bills and had turned the monthly tasks over to me to write a check.
When the divorce was final I'd received the house, the good car with sizeable cash and security settlement plus a good portion of his wages each month. He was also required to pay my attorney fees. I would never have to work and could actually afford to live well but I chose to stay in the smaller house and not spend the money foolishly. His last girlfriend left him then and a month later he came to me, apologized and wanted to move back in with me.
I said no and chased him from my property.
I was despondent with no education or real job training except as a clerk in a store my last year of High School and so after a year feeling sorry for myself I made up my mind to carry on and take care of things I'd neglected so long. I didn't have to work but wanted to after I'd prepare myself.
My first problem was the excess weight I'd put on. It was hard because I really hadn't had any exercise since the marriage. I almost couldn't breathe and I tired so easily but I set small meaningful goals and slowly the pounds began to fall away.
After four months I'd lost twenty-five pounds and bought a treadmill. That too was extremely difficult but I still managed and fought the urge to give up. I began thinking then of a world cruise because I'd always wanted to see how the world survived.
When I'd lost forty pounds I was still nearly two hundred. I listened to someone on a TV news report discussing the merits of bicycling and swimming as two ways to maintain body fitness although they stressed sex was still number one to stay slim. I didn't have any hope for sex, and so I found a used bicycle at a cyclery that was in really good condition. Then I called a pool supply and scheduled them to clean and maintain the pool.
It was hard keeping my balance as I rode back and forth in my driveway. I felt like a Hippopotamus on carnival stilts when I was on the bike. Finally I put the bike in the car and drove to a local park each day and rode the bicycle path. When I started at the Park I had to stop and rest as I caught my breath every quarter mile or so but I persevered and finally made it the full distance without resting. I was proud of my accomplishment and finally crossed that one seventy-five weight mark.
The pool people had drained and washed the pool then refilled it and it looked good to me. The pool kid was young but came around once a week to clean and maintain it. I thought I was still too fat and didn't have a suit to wear so I'd lock the gates then swim naked. I began slowly to increase the number of laps I could complete using the length of the pool.
After I'd looked at myself naked in the mirror a few weeks later my thighs and legs were stronger and beginning to show some definition. My tummy had shrunk some and when I turned my ass it showed a little less of the cottage cheese while my breasts were still large but getting smaller and sagging a little less. I was beginning to have some confidence in all that I'd been doing although I knew there was a lot more that needed doing.
I could make two trips around the bicycle path non-stop when I finally had the nerve to be seen on the streets of my home.
I didn't want new clothes yet and wouldn't refill my wardrobe until I was near my desired weight goal. However I needed something better than I'd been wearing on the bike path before being seen on the neighborhood streets.
I went shopping and purchased two outfits. The pants and tank top were form fitting which wasn't my desire but I'd live with it because it would remind me how fat I still was. I also decided to bicycle in the mornings while most of the neighborhood was away at work then swim after a quick rest.
My first trip then was a morning and I received a lot of strange looks from neighbors that were at home. I'd been riding the neighborhood for over a month before I was recognized by anyone and I felt good about it as she asked how I'd lost 'All that weight.' I felt good at being recognized for my accomplishment and we talked for a few minutes before I finished my ride.
I'd always ridden and returned the same direction when I rode but then I grew tired and changed my route by returning from the opposite direction.
On my first trip of the new route as I returned home I noticed the guy next door studying me as he finished mowing his lawn. He smiled and forgot to wave.
I'd known the guy since we'd moved in but only had a few short talks with him. He was very tall and single living alone but was near my age. I'd never had any sexual thoughts of him but now as I waved back I recognized for the first time that he really was a desirable looking man.
I'd started my swimming and still hated the idea of me in a swimsuit but I liked the feel of the water on my skin and loved the sun afterwards. At first I didn't have a lounge and just sunned myself on a large beach towel but then one day I had two lounges delivered and set up in an area where I could get shade in the afternoon.
I still did my own yard work because it gave me even more exercise and I was beginning to love physical exertion a bit.
Then one morning after my swim and bike ride I was working at the side of the house and the single guy next door came out. He whistled softly but I heard him and turned around. He was smiling and said hello and I smiled back.
"You're working up a sweat." he said and I turned toward him again and noticed his hunger as his eyes swept me. Could he actually like what he was seeing? I wondered.
Then he actually said "You look good on a bike."
I said "Me? I'm too fat."
"Not from what I saw the other morning. You looked good in those pants and that tank top suited you well. I've wanted to see more of it." he continued as his eyes kept moving. I was embarrassed and turned my eyes down but quickly saw the excitement in his pants. I wanted to keep him talking and said "You liked what you saw?"
"I liked it very much. Your thighs and butt really look good in those tight pants. They draw a man's eyes and his spirit. You fill out that tank perfectly too." he said then continued with "You look really good in those shorts today."
I'd never been complimented like that before any time in my life. "Well if you saw the fat under them you wouldn't say that." I added and my face flushed.
"I've seen it and you look even better naked." he smiled.
"You've seen me naked?" I almost screamed. "When? Where? How?" and then he interrupted me.
"Whoa. Relax. I shouldn't have but I heard you swimming last week and there was a knot hole in the fence right in front of me. I touched it and it fell out in my hand. Maybe it was providence but I leaned over and peered at you. I couldn't look away after that and when you got out of the pool and used that towel I almost let you know I was watching." he told me.
I was embarrassed before but now I was unable to speak and knew I was red everywhere from blushing.
But then I looked up again and heard my voice saying "You should have let me know but maybe you'll come over for a swim someday."
"If I come over it may not be just for a swim." he added confidently and yet he looked uncertain.
"Well I swim every morning. I'll start leaving the gate unlocked when I swim." I said but had no idea where the thought or the voice came from. I was remembering the comment on sexual exercise as best for controlling weight or I think I was.
