Introduction

My name is Christine and I am 29 years old. I live in the Midwest, teach high school special education, and am happily married to a man I nearly didn’t have a chance to meet if it wasn’t for my ex-husband. More on that later – believe me, it’s as complicated as it sounds!

I grew up in Illinois, north of Chicago and just south of the Illinois/Wisconsin border. I came from a single mother home and was the youngest of her 4 children. My older siblings varied in ages from 8 years older, 6 years older, and just over a year older than me. We moved around in the town I grew up in living in 4 different houses over 15+ years I lived there. One of the only things I wanted when I was younger was to have a home of my own with a happy relationship and to have children. I wanted to have a place where my children could always call home, since I had so many homes in my life.

It was a typical Midwestern town I grew up in, still a smaller suburb at the time. My mom was a volunteer firefighter so all the police and firefighters knew me by name and face. Yes, this limited the amount of teenage trouble I got in, but in many ways offered me quite a bit of comfort. I always knew there were people to help in case I needed it and that was helpful.