Accusations

This week’s journal entry:

Were you ever accused of something that you didn’t do? What were you accused of? What was the end result?

By Laura Black

            Well, this is a fun story. When my ex-husband and I started the divorce process, he accused me of taking money or spending our joint money on unnecessary items. So, he had his lawyer contact my lawyer. I had to compile all our past credit card statements, banking accounts statements, and paid bills. I don’t remember how many years back I had to go, but it was at least five years. The point was to show that I was doing something wrong – not paying the bills or taking money. This, of course, wasn’t the case. We had so many credit cards and debt in general. There was no way I was taking money. I was just struggling to pay everything; we had nothing left to take.

            One night after work, I decided to pick up a bottle of wine and start sorting out all the statements the lawyer requested. I knew this was going to take some time. What my ex-husband didn’t realize because he never paid attention was that I had every statement we had for our entire marriage. I’m always all about the details (OCD). Whenever I paid a bill of any kind, I marked the date it was paid and how it was paid. If it was with a check, then the check number was on there as well. Because of my billing OCD, everything was marked and labeled, so it was completely clear that everything was paid and accounted for.

            As I drank my wine, I started making piles on the living room floor. I had a pile for each credit card statement, bills, and banking. I did one year at a time. There were so many piles on the floor. They were all ready to go. During this process, I discovered a few things my ex had been doing with his credit cards. My ex had been trying to show that I was taking money or spending our money on things that weren’t needed. Well, it backfired on him.

See, he had started dating someone else while we were still living together and going through the divorce process. I couldn’t afford to move out yet, so I had to live with him still. He refused to wait until I moved out to start dating. Well, as it turned out, he was using his credit card to purchase gifts for his girlfriend and her children. So, here he was trying to accuse me of taking or spending our joint money, and he was doing just that. I had proof of it now in the credit card statements for the past three months. Had his lawyer not requested all this information, I would have never known. My ex ended up telling on himself.

As I had all the statements spread out across the living room floor, my ex came home from work. I had finished my bottle of wine. I was irritated that my ex had accused me of such craziness, and I was completely pissed now that he was spending our money on his girlfriend and children. As I sat on the floor finishing everything up, he came in, and as he walked past me, he asked me what I was doing. I sprung up off the floor so quick and pounced after him. I was furious.

I started spewing out what I was doing. I couldn’t believe he had the balls to accuse me then do it himself. I already knew about the girlfriend, but this just made it worse. I’m pretty sure the bottle of wine made me feel super bold. I had a six-foot-three man pinned against the wall in the hallway afraid to move. I was in his face and yelling who knows what and in what order I can’t remember. I just know he had nothing to say in the end. He did not apologize to me at all, but I honestly didn’t expect him to. I just knew I had the proof I needed of showing I was innocent and he was not. It also felt good to let out all my pent up rage for him and his accusations and actions. If you’re going to accuse me of something, you better make sure you have the proof. Remember, I’m OCD, so it’s not easy to do.  

What about you? Were you ever wrongly accused?