Lived Experience: Peggy Carlson

Read Peggy’s Story

I’m Peggy, and I’m a 32-year-old woman with an 8-year-old boy named Brian and a 12-year-old girl named Amanda. Bruce and I have been married for 14 years. I work as a medical assistant. We live in a small, rural town. It’s a close community, but sometimes people are into everyone else’s business.

The other day, I arrived home from work after stopping at my parents’ house. My mother had called to ask me to drop off some medicine for my father on my way home. Because the store is so close to my office I assumed this would be a quick stop, but there was a long wait at the store and by the time I got home I was about 45 minutes late.

When I walked in the door, Bruce was with Amanda and Brian in the living room. They were all playing with a brand-new puppy that Bruce just brought home – a puppy we never discussed. He confronted me about being late and accused me of hanging out with my guy friends from work. I told him he’s crazy and that I had to stop at the store for my mom. I noticed he had had a couple of beers. That made me worried, so I offered to call my mother, even though I don’t like to involve my parents. But he didn’t seem to hear me and he kept yelling at me about being late so I started to get upset. I was really worried about the kids seeing all of this and I just wanted him to stop. I told him he was being stupid and to try to calm down. This only escalated his anger and he ranted that he knows my mom has lied for me in the past and would do it again. He yelled that he was trying to do something nice and surprise everyone with a new puppy, but I screwed things up by not being home for the surprise. Then, he kicked the dog in front of the kids.

Module Purpose | Peggy's Story | About Intimate Partner Violence | Carla’s Story |Common Myths | Latanya's Story | Frank's Story | The Power & Control Wheel | Julie’s Story | What Can We Do | Aimee's Story | Critical Thinking