I Never Thought It Would Happen to Me

My name is Cheryl and I am thirty-nine years old. I was married to a man whom I thought was my prince charming. Boy, was I wrong … I was blinded by his charm and good looks. I was so unaware of what I was getting myself into. I was a single mom with two wonderful boys whom I cherished and loved more than life itself. Anyway, I was tired of dating and being in dead end relationships, so I tried a dating site … Big mistake! I met a man from Maine and I lived in New Hampshire. I figured what did I have to lose … Little did I know that five years down the road I would lose my two wonderful children to the state of Maine children services … If I had know then what I know now, I would have never gotten into another relationship never mind getting married and leaving my friends and family …

I was first introduced to domestic abuse the first year of my marriage, I was told I could not work or have any friends in my new home state … I was told to keep the floors clean enough that he could eat off of them. Then I would get hot coffee thrown on me if I did not do as I was told. I just tried to forget about what he did and accepted his apology. After awhile he would yell and threaten my boys. Tell them they were trash and no good. I let that slide also. A few years down the road we bought a trailer and I thought things would get better. I was wrong again.

I discovered that he was an alcoholic. That is when the abuse got worse and more damaging. He was a truck driver and worked late afternoon until the next morning. He came home one morning three sheets to the wind and I was afraid for the first time in my life. He dropped his briefcase on my son’s head and yelled because they were out in the living room sleeping on the floor and I told him to stop and leave them alone. That is when I left the first time. I should have never gone back, but I was petrified for my life and the boys. I have been kicked after being dragged off a couch and pulled onto the floor and had a welt so big and wide on my right leg I could not walk for a few days. Then I have been spit on by him  in public, had my hair ripped out in handfuls, and experienced a split lip that required seven stitches and all he could say was, “You are going to protect me, right?” I always did what he wanted just so I would not get hit.