[agrace]

I’m sorry for the abuse and the pain it still causes.

That said - you’re quite the storyteller. After enjoying the ambling, modern Mark Twain-esque air of your post (for example “that brave and awesome girl dragged my crushed carcass to her parent’s door and dictated orders, saving my life” and “until the hickory was just chips amongst my blood”), I read your profile page and found a bit more of the same. You should write your memoirs while you have all this extra time, and in that same bemused, reflective, descriptive style.

I’d read it. :)

[NewRomeTacitus]

Thanks much but the stories on this thread...I cried, laughed and cried again. And that’s not cliche’.

For a long time I bought into the idea that “real men” never cry. I’ve traveled a very long path from a very macho persona that was a necessary shield to now. My journey regaining humanity should never have happened when I think of the (very few) opportunities.

Child abuse is a unique torture that can shape a forming human being into a tool, an automaton or a monster fueled by hatred to wreak Hell on his tormentors...nothing good comes from it.

I’ve finally forgiven mine. Mostly. I wonder if I’m shouldering the karma of bad people or just unlucky. But hey, I’ve gotten to where I cry over an actor’s cue. I’m finally regaining humanity.

BTW: Thanks for the encouragement to write but what I have in the drawer has all been done to death by other writers. The only original story I have (my personal life) is far too depressing to sell no matter how I tell it. I’m striving to make it a success story. The light of hope remains as a beacon.