On My Own Terms, A Memoir

I knew I needed therapy, but I was terrified of being labelled crazy, crazy like my mother was.

But as our sessions progressed, Dr. Stein helped me reveal the memories that led to a teen suicide attempt, a planned teenage pregnancy and subsequent abortion, promiscuity, a stint in detention, morbid obesity, compulsive eating disorders, a voluntary tubal-ligation when I was twenty-one years old, and permanent estrangement from my malicious, controlling mother.

Twelve years after therapy, I learned my estranged mother had terminal bone cancer. A sense of familial duty compelled me to let my mother back into my life, but my mother's past deceit and outright lies make it too late for open, loving arms. I set my terms and relationship limits.

Then, when three of my four siblings and I rallied around our dying mother, religious differences and petty unresolved childhood conflicts threaten any hope there was of reconciliation with the rest of my alienated family. I came to realize that I wasn't the only one with terms.

Listen as I read an excerpt from my child abuse story:

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Page last updated with new video February 26, 2009