Tag Archive: survivor


Therapy Letter #2 – To my parents


Dear Mom & Dad,

     I am so disappointed in you.  I will never understand the way you treated me.  Why didn’t I matter to you?  Why, when you found out I was molested, was your first thought about how you could protect your reputations and not about how you should/could have protected me?  How can you play nice with and spend time with family that treated their daughters like human sacrifices?  Why was it so hard for you to love me?  Mark loves me and he says I am easy to love – so why is it so hard for you?  Why couldn’t you see me?  Was I invisible?  Was I too much?  You always made me feel like I was too much – like loving me would just overload you somehow.  Why wasn’t I ever good enough for you?  Why did you turn on me?  How was it my fault that Eddie raped me and his daughters?  It wasn’t my fault, it was never my fault!  How dare you blame me!  It is so unfair.  you should never have had me – you didn’t want a daughter – you wanted another notch in your belt… another blessing to claim… some other piece of evidence to prove you were a man & woman of God.  You wanted a trophy not a child.  You treated me like a display and when I wasn’t ‘pretty’ when I didn’t display just right you didn’t want me anymore.  You would rather think I was possessed by the devil than to think I didn’t believe like you anymore.  You would rather count me among the lost souls than to consider you may be wrong in you beliefs and there may be more to life and to God than wrath and anger.  It isn’t my fault you  don’t know me (or God.)  It’s yours.  you had plenty of chances to know me and you didn’t bother.  I am worth it.  I don’t deserve your criticism our your disdain.  you don’t know me because you don’t think I am worth it…well, you’re missing out.  I am worth it…I am a good woman.  I am smart, beautiful and loving.  I love God with all my heart and I serve Him.  I love my husband and I am a wife to be proud of.   Being raped by Eddie was not my fault – it was yours and you are not worthy to be parents. 

It was not my fault.  It was not my fault. 

It was not my fault.  It was not my fault.

It will never be my fault.

Love,

No Longer Damaged Goods

Hope


I am going to be ok… I have been working so hard and making so much progress.  I am excited about my future for the first time in as long as I can remember.   I feel so full of hope and promise.  I feel like I’m getting the hang of things.  I know what I want and I know what I need to do with my life.  It’s a nice feeling – I know I don’t have everything together – but I know I will be happy one day.   Strange, this feeling of hope.  I think I’ll just enjoy it for once.

Thoughts on doing battle


    

   I feel like I am in the fight of my life.  I am up against so much.  Not only am I still coming to terms with my past abuse, I am trying to break my present cycle of self-abuse.  I was feeling all proud of myself thinking I had come so far… and to be fair I have made a lot of progress – but I have a daunting amount of work ahead of me.  I am nearly crippled by this.  I don’t know how to be real.  I am really good at faking it.  I look great on paper – happily married, good career, room for growth and promotion in my field, 2 college degrees, a savings account, pets, friends… We own our home  and cook meals way more than we eat out… we hike when we can on weekends and try to play tennis once a month… The reality is  we don’t have it together.  I don’t have it together.  I don’t even know where “it” is to get it together.  I have no idea where to start.  I’m reading books, doing my devotions, listening to Christian music, going to therapy and yet “it” eludes me. 

    I don’t want to go through the motions, I want to live.  I am fighting to live – to breathe – to have a thought or opinion I don’t feel I have to apologize for.  I am sick to death of being sorry all the time!  What am I sorry for, existing? breathing? being?  I have no idea… I just feel perpetually apologetic and frankly pathetic!  This is not me… every fiber of my being screams and rails against this shell of a person I have become.  I have to defeat her.  She may have served a purpose at one time but those days are long gone and now instead of helping me she is slowly undermining me – turning me into a mindless, whimpering drone.  I am not this woman.  I am passionate and alive.  I am angry and strong and am not going to put up with this any more!  I am fierce and loving and loyal and I get what I want because I fight for it.  I am not this mousey, lay down and die disguise I have been wearing…  I am not this afraid to look you in the eyes broken down woman who I have been pretending to be lately. 

    I am putting on my armor – I am sharpening my weapons – I am stoking this furnace and I will burn off this shell in a wash of heat and light and hope.  I will find myself again and I will not be burdened by all of this fear any longer.  I deserve better.  I am worth fighting for and if any one is going to fight for me I had better start the battle.  I am loved, I am fiercely guarded, I am cherished, I am Captivating.  I will defeat these shackles and melt away these chains and I will rise up.  I am an amazing woman.  I am strong.  You haven’t seen anything yet.