The things that doomed my marriage from the get go was a long distance engagement after a short courtship because I was finishing college. I did all the traveling between us and we saw each other once or twice a month as I was a Resident Assistant in the dorm. I never really got to know him. 

On our honeymoon train ride from Omaha to Los Angeles, he spent all day reading a James Michener novel in the dome car and told me to come get him for meals. I rode silently and watched the scenery. He was a wham bam thank you, ma'am kind of guy and would rather watch television than talk to me. Then he went to law school at night and worked all day. He ate breakfast while I bagged his lunch and dinner. We had two fabulous children born during the law school years. He was good with them intellectually after they were old enough to communicate, but it was a very lonely 29 years for me. Fortunately I was a stay-at-home mom and for the first 17 years I was a dedicated wife and mother.  Then I began to suffer from the stress of the marriage and finally left after 29 years of trying. I had hoped things would change after the children went to college, but it got worse when he became more critical. I was always on the witness stand because he was determined to win all arguments. 

After I left, my horrible nightmares and skin rashes ceased. 

Leila