Screaming, cussing, name calling, threats, and hitting. All of these things are a form of domestic abuse and I am thankful I am a survivor. It always starts out small. He would cuss at me and call me names and yell at me – even in front of our babies. He would call me a c*nt, a fat b*tch, a wh*re, and crazy. Then he started trying to isolate me. He didn’t want me working or going out with friends or even hanging out with my family. When I said something and started standing up for myself is when the physical abuse started. That started off small too. A push. A slap. Then he choked me. All of this went on for about a year.

I made the decision to leave in January. Leaving a domestic violence situation is never easy. I had hope that he would change. I didn’t want to take our children away from him. I was afraid I couldn’t make it on my own. I had so many reasons and excuses for staying. I quickly realized that my life was at stake.

I was still seeing him so that he could see our children. Then in February he hit me with his SUV and drug me with it. It happened in front of a school with many witnesses. He could have killed me. Our poor children were in the SUV when it happened. He got arrested and luckily I walked away with just some scrapes and bruises. It could have ended much worse. That was my wake-up call.

I went to the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Center.

They took me and my babies in. They gave us a  safe place to stay and helped me obtain an Order of Protection against him for me and our children. The wonderful staff at the shelter helped me though all of the steps of finding an apartment and moving into it. They even helped me with furniture.

I am ONLY a survivor because I finally made the decision to walk away. It was hard. I left everything behind. The house, the car, the money. But none of that is as important as my life and the lives of my children. I am so glad that I made the decision to finally leave and seek help from the DV&SA Center. I get to wake up every day without wondering what is going to happen to me today.

But most importantly I get to WAKE up. I truly am a survivor now and am thankful that my story is not over yet.