Tomorrow, December 22, 2012 marks the second anniversary of my escape from Prince Charming. Two years ago tomorrow is the day the police intervened and arrested him. It is not my real birthday. But in a sense it is the day I was reborn.
I remember the days after when the phone stopped ringing because Prince Charming wasn't calling me twenty or thirty times a day to monitor where I was and what I was doing. There was a sense of eerie calm and quiet for a brief time. I no longer had to listen to his violent, profanity-laced tirades which left me feeling as though I had no value, no self-worth, and no where to turn for help. The bruises on my body healed. It has taken longer for my spirit to heal.
So today as I continue to fight Prince Charming's seemingly endless litigation, I do not hate him, but I am aware of who he is. What he has done to me and continues to do, cannot be dismissed. Forgiveness is a choice, not a forced requirement.
By telling my story and documenting the unspeakable, in writing and witnessing the truth, the power of the secret is diminished. Perhaps next time you yourself come across a woman in an abusive relationship, instead of asking why anyone stays with a man who beats her, you can manage the empathy and courage to help her in her way instead of judging her. Abuse can happen to any woman.
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