Thursday, February 11, 2010

much deeper than I can measure...

is my gratitude today that someone very dear and very special to me, along with her sweet, beautiful children, are finally safe and sound in a Domestic Violence Shelter. I pray that she may find the support and strength she needs to go only forward from here and not back. I know that this is very hard.

I'm sorry if it makes people uncomfortable to be reminded, but it is very sad and frightening what goes on behind so many closed doors. If you do not live in a home where you have to fear for your safety, or the safety of your children, then hold you loved ones close tonight and offer up a prayer of thanks to whatever power you believe in, even if you call it luck.

If however, you ARE currently living in such a situation, please believe this:
You are not alone. There are so many people who have been where you are, so many who want to help you, and who will not judge you, if only you'd just reach out. There is no shame in this. It is only out of respect for her privacy that I am not publishing the victim's name. She is a bright, accomplished and beautiful woman, with two post graduate degrees, two children and many friends, who admire her and look to her for advice in many things, but she has been enduring a secret hell for a long time for reasons I cannot name here.

If you are in Cincinnati and you need help, please call the local domestic violence hotline (800) 540-4764 on Walnut Street. If you need a number for some other city, and you don't want to search from your home computer, go to your public library, or use a friend's computer, and do this google search "Domestic violence shelters in......" and go down there or pick up the phone and call. It's a fact: Domestic violence only escalates. Please take care of yourself.

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