I’ve heard it said that you have to find the strength to leave, but I left when I simply ran out of the strength to stay. I’d walked out once last September, and she phoned me repeatedly begging me to come back, and I was back within the hour.Then, this January, I was so stressed out that I had to go to my dr. and get tranquilizers. I’d confided to him a few times about what was going on, and I realized that if I needed tranquilizers to stay in a relationship, then it wasn’t worth staying in it. So, I started making plans, setting up supports, checking out places to live. And on the night I told her I was leaving I was a complete basket case. She made all kinds of promises, and told me how much she and my step-kids loved me, and made me promise to stay until the summer, so we could work on things more (we were in counselling). Against my better judgement, I agreed, though I was just a mess. For the next six weeks, I tried harder than I’d tried at any time in our marriage. And nothing changed. Not a single thing. Finally, the night of Feb. 28, she pulled the same stunt she’d pulled regularly over the last 3.5 years. I finally “hit the wall”, and it was actually kind of peaceful. No arguing, no yelling, no crying, no knots in my stomach, no tossing and turning all night, nothing. It was like an out-of-body experience. I got up in the morning, packed my things, and left.