Where I Am Going Is Better Than Where I've Been.

This time, two years ago, I was a full-time, stay-at-home mom of four teenagers and the wife of a college professor. I had just a little feeling of entitlement to the good things in life. I hadn't had a job in almost 15 years, but in spite of that, I had all of the material things I wanted.

The cushy existence had a steep price tag, though. My home was filled with screaming and fights every day, and sometimes the verbal  arguing turned physical. I loved my children, and I wanted to keep my marriage together for their sake. I also shuddered to contemplate how I would ever make my way in the world, without a successful man to support me. I carefully weighed the pros and cons of continuing to live this way.

One day, the scale tipped in the direction of my getting out. I'm not exactly sure what the straw was that broke the proverbial camel's back, but I knew that I couldn't stay in that house full of anger and hate for one more day. I left with just a few belongings. I spent that night in my car.

The year that followed is still a blur in my mind. Driving from the country to Washington, DC. A homeless shelter. Then another one. Then, finally, the shelter that let me sleep on one of their cots for two and a half months. 

No job. No money. My children--so angry, so hurt. My friends and my church--all gone. Knowing no one, outside of the other women at the shelter. Finding a real house to live in. Not feeling right about it, and moving out. More moving, here, there, who knows where. I've moved eight times, so far, since October of 2013.

Getting a license to sell life insurance. Hating it. Spending so many hours, sitting in parking lots in my car. I was hungry a lot. I missed my children. I knew I had made the right choice to leave an abusive marriage, but no one from church understood. Suddenly, no friends. Suddenly, cast out as a horrible sinner. No sympathy. Being all alone, all day, every day, in Our Nation's Capital.

It has taken me more than a year to really come to terms with the fact that I have to earn a living to support myself. This past December, real estate investing found me on the curb where I had been sitting all my life, waiting for it. I took a few courses in wholesaling and joined the local REIA.

Real estate investing. This is the Golden Ticket. The Yellow Brick Road. Only God knows where real estate investing is going to take me, but of this I am sure---It's going to be somewhere good. Yeah, somewhere REALLY good.