it's been a trying evening. I noticed when I came into work today that catherine seemed sort of down; jack said that she and gary had some kind of argument. she'd mentioned before that she and gary scrapped a bit, but it had never sounded major--that is, she had never sounded concerned. well, one look at her swollen, cut hand and how slowly she was walking made how major it was pretty clear. in fact, he told her that if she tried to leave him for good that he'd put her in the hospital.

michelle spearheaded an effort to get her to get the hell out. we all threw our support behind her, believe me. so catherine made some calls, snuck home and packed, quit o.d., and left on our 12:30 break (can't say where she went; not here, where certain bastards could stumble across it). the goodbye scene was tearful and huggy. but it's about friggin time. even if gary had been a pussycat, the relationship had become more of a liability than an asset. if it had ever been one.

as happy as I am for her, I can't help feeling miserable. for months I've spent more of my waking hours with catherine than anyone else, and consider her one of my closest friends now. well, she'd better keep her promise to call, dammit.

and the whole thing reminds me of just how tricky these situations can be. I say this: if you have never been in an abusive relationship, you do NOT know how you would act in one. it's easy for so many people to say, "man, if my boyfriend/girlfriend laid one finger on me, I'd be gone." would you? would you really? thankfully I've never had to make that decision...and I don't know how I'd decide.

in closing. at old dominion she was always catherine, to everyone. but she said once that she was always called cathy before she was with gary. she only changed because he didn't like it. so to my friend, wherever you are tonight: as soon as you left that office I hope that you became cathy again. and that you'll never be anyone else.