Child Abuse Story From Dee G
by Dee G
(California, USA)
Lelita:
I am 56 years old and it still hurts. Both my parents were abusers. The same story: my dad was an alcoholic, macho man. He always had his belt or piece of water hose ready. I remember he kept me home from school for a week. He had beaten me so bad that my face, arms, legs and back were swollen with welts he left from the belt. I had a fever and the shakes. He believed that he could beat me whenever he wanted to. The last time he beat me was with a piece of water hose, I was 26 years old. I finally left home, but I was always coming back to see my brothers and sisters. I sometimes have these nightmares that he sexually abused me when I was very young. Maybe I just don't want to remember that. I was always afraid of the night and would watch my bedroom door until I would fall asleep.
My mom would use mental abuse and physical. Since I was the eldest of 9, it was my responsibility to help with the siblings. If anything went wrong I would get beat. My mom would do crazy things, like trying to commit suicide, or hide for hours and I would get so scared. She would also tell my dad lies and have us kneel and face the wall until my dad would get home and he would beat us because she would tell him to. My brothers and sisters would get beat too. I would tell my dad not to hit them, so he would hit me more. He never did beat the younger siblings.
The story of my life is sad, but for some reason God has helped me. Four years ago my mother needed help to care for my dad, his ailing health congestive heart failure. So I decided to live close to them to help in everything, and I knew it would be a couple of years because it is very hard to see someone dying slowly. I was there for about 3 1/2 years, and the day he died I could not cry. I felt at peace and I also told my mom that I would be leaving and never coming back. That she would never hear from me anymore and that she was in good hands with her siblings that she had there. My mother was always good at destroying family gatherings or happiness.
He now passed a year ago, and I did not attend his funeral. The whole family was condemning me, but I had to take care of myself. I did what I had to do and no one said thanks for helping those 3 1/2 years, not even my mother.
I now have my own family to tend to and my husband and myself. I thank God for giving me that courage to overcome that. As long as I know in myself that they did not destroy my love for myself and that I will never be like them and that I have found peace within myself and to have God in my life. Amen
Note from Darlene: I regret that I can no longer continue the practice of commenting on visitor submissions to the degree I have in the past, as I am currently writing a book on healing from child abuse. I ask that you please read my post of June 24, 2009 titled
Announcement Regarding my Comments for a complete explanation. I welcome you to follow my progress on my Facebook page at
Healing from Child Abuse. When you get there, don't forget to click onto the Become a Fan link. I do hope to hear from you there.
Email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses AND website/blog URLs in visitor comments are STRICTLY prohibited, and could result in being banned from making further comments on this site.
