In terms of being publicly shamed, no, but you always did get the comments about what you were wearing, what you ate at a certain function. Sometimes I'd get so angry because I'd feel like we had a really confident meeting or a confident presentation and somebody would make a comment about my shoes rather than what I actually said.
A determining factor for me was actually a disgruntled resident who phoned our house at five o'clock in the morning and asked if I would come and meet him downtown. He was upset about a downtown revitalization project we were doing in Marwayne. Maybe it was just a feeling in my stomach, but I did not choose to go and meet him. He phoned back with some subsequent phone calls that got more and more hostile as the conversations continued, enough that I did phone the police. Later that evening that gentleman was found deceased on a rural road after he had committed suicide. I often wondered what would have happened if I had gone and met him.
It was timing. When my kids were little, they didn't really know.... Time was different for them. As they got to be teenagers, they fully understood what it meant for me to be gone for four or five days. I was feeling those pressures, and then when that incident happened I really did have to step back and say, “Is this worth it? Why am I here?” That was when I chose to leave.