Thanks Abbey,

Yes when he loses the war on words he does resort to blaming me for everything. So be it. I don't care what he thinks or says about me anymore. I know the truth, and my true friends and family know it too. I am not perfect, but my imperfections wasn't what killed our marriage.
I have a friend whose husband still talks to my ex (they work together sometimes), even though he thinks he is a scumbag for what he did to me and especially the kids. I hear things from them about what he is saying about me, and like I said, I dont care, they know the truth and he disgusts them when he talks about me. My ex actually thinks my friends husband would agree with him. He never agrees, just listens and it gets back to me. It makes me laugh cause he is so stupid to think anyone sympathizes with him besides his mother and people who have no idea what happened except for his side of the story. Like i said i am not perfect and i could have submitted to him and did everything to appease him no matter how bad i felt, as I did for many years, but it came to a point where enough was enough. I remember while looking up divorce lawyers on the internet reading that most divorces happen when one of the spouses controlled the other spouse for years and the controlled spouse inevitably gets to a point where they dont want to be controlled anymore.. and the controlling spouse cannot handle it. That is what happened in my marriage. The drinking and cheating he did was just the topping on the cake.. the cheating was his last resort to get my attention, but it wasn't the attention he wanted. Lately, I have found myself saying to myself " so be it " often. I have had so many bad things happen in this past year (even outside of my marriage) that I have gotten to the point that i realize that there are some things that I cannot control or fix or change and other things that i can control if i put my mind to it. I still have faith in God through all i have been through, I believe what happens is meant to be, but I also know that I cant just sit and do nothing and expect God to fix everything. Oh boy, I rambled on again

Rambling is good because your words ring true.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with the control. I think thats where I arrived. I couldnt cope with the control anymore. I remember telling him 'the one thing you cant control are my thoughts'. thats all I felt I had left of myself.

I also remember swearing at him inside my head. Childish, but it helped me when he was carrying on.

Man, how do we get to these places in our lives. At least we have stood up to be counted even though its an incredibly painful event.

my ex keeps telling me i am the stronger of us both. Its weird hearing him say it knowing he actually believes it. Maybe it is true. In the end maybe we all are, changing things takes strength and courage. Theres an awful lot of that here isnt there, even though we feel like dying inside at times.

We are stronger than we know.

Yes we are stronger. Not cause we wanted to be but because we had to be for the sake of our kids and ourselves (our emotional well being was at stake).
I believe there are many women out there who deal with this and stay in the marriage. I remember my mother in law saying to me that he doesnt go out to bars or cheat and he works hard, you should be thankful to have him. well she failed to mention how he worked so many hours, was never home, when he was home he drank himself until he passed out, paid no attention to me or the kids except to yell at us, not to mention embarrassing all of us with his drunkeness and then cheating(in which she also blamed me for). I have always been a strong person, but years of doing everything to appease him weakened me until i couldnt take it anymore. The strong person inside of me said enough is enough. I rely on that part of myself to carry on with my life now.