A Woman's Plimsoll Line: an excerpt from my divorce memoir, "The Year of My Divorce"

September 30, 2010

I found an interesting article on the internet about a woman’s plimsoll line. I didn’t even know what a plimsoll line was until I read it. It’s a marked waterline on the side of a ship used by sailors to let them know when the boat is filled and can’t take on any more cargo.

If you look at a plimsoll line as the “last straw” or “crossing the line,” then this analogy works very well for women who are/were abused or victims of infidelity. 

I hit my plimsoll line this year. I couldn’t take on any more of his nonsense. My burden over the years accumulated and it became too great to bear. . .

Each woman's plimsoll line is unique. Each woman's burden is her own, to carry or discharge if the line is breached.

I remember drawing that line, on the kitchen table, back in February. I told him, "This is the line. I am here. She is there, on the other side. You need to choose."

What I didn't know then was that the choice was really mine, and had been all along.

Connected in Love

"Connected in Love"

Mary Donohue is the newly called Compassionate Service Leader for the Knecht Branch, a small LDS* congregation in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Spunky and attention-challenged, Mary thinks she's not up to the calling, but soon finds out it's a piece of cake--or cookies--or whatever she's baking at the time. As the days go on, she realizes there are many women in her small congregation who have their own special problems and are working to overcome them.

Mary soon discovers a young mother, Cammie Bentley, is hiding a dark secret that needs Mary's particular expertise, as well as her loving care and guidance. Helping this sister through her abusive marriage--and repercussion of her husband's pornography addiction--might just be Mary's true calling.

Readers will discover that Mary is in for a prayer-filled adventure when a quiet day at home changes abruptly with one phone call...then another.




*The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the Mormon religion