One of my coworkers – an attractive white female – is married to a black guy. He spent time in prison for drug possession, and now he can’t get a job because he has a criminal record. They have a kid together, and she works two jobs to support the family. They are still living paycheck-to-paycheck. She frequently comes to work with sunglasses on and keeps them on all day, trying to hide the black eye he gave her.
A few weeks ago, I was taking her home (she doesn’t have a car and I was heading that way anyway), and we passed by a furniture store. She looked in the window and started having a breakdown. I had to pull over, and after she calmed down, she explained to me that she’s realizing now how much she screwed up marrying this guy. She realizes that she will never have nice things, like new furniture, because he will never be able to provide for her that kind of life.
She said what made it worse was that everyone warned her not to do it, but she wanted to marry a black guy just to piss off her parents. And now she can’t leave him because he will hurt her or their child. And even if she could leave, no one would want her because of him.
And the whole time I was thinking, “You should have listened to them. Now it’s too late.”