Healing comes in many forms, and in my life, traveling has been one of the greatest forms. In my memoir, Under The Orange Blossoms, travel as a young girl changed my perspective and gave me hope for my future. Throughout my life, travel has and continues to bring healing. It has played such a central…
Father’s day for some people is difficult to celebrate if they have an abusive father or father that has been abusive in the past. Abuse comes in many forms, including emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse. Knowing how to manage and approach this day is complex if your relationship with your father has endured abuse,…
I have often wondered if my teachers or neighbors had suspected that I was being sexually abused as a child. I’m not sure if they had suspicions and didn’t do anything about it or if they really didn’t see the signs. Considering the lack of awareness around sexual abuse at that time, I don’t blame…
How can you detect sexual abuse signs? While training in detecting sexual abuse has become more widespread, there are signs that often go unnoticed or are misidentified. After reading my memoir, Under The Orange Blossoms, I have been asked numerous times, how did people around you not know that sexual abuse was taking place? I…
The story of Prince Andrew and the sexual abuse allegations against him have been fairly quiet on the news. I caught a quick glimpse of the announcement that Prince Andrew had settled with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre for 12 million pounds. In his settlement, Prince Andrew does not admit any wrongdoing and still vehemently denies…
I had the wonderful opportunity to share openly about my childhood sexual abuse with Kirsten Duncan on the An Unexpected Launch podcast. In this podcast we discussed how the abuse stopped, what my children thought about their grandfather and how it impacted their lives. I shared how I found the right therapist and the types…
It’s been a while, friends! This blog started a little over a year and a half ago, and while you may have wondered where I went, I have been very much here in this space, just not on the blog as much as I have wanted to be! When this blog started, I knew that…
Over a year ago, I asked my father if he would be willing for me to interview and record him about his life. I felt emotionally prepared going into each interview, but I underestimated how much it would take out of me. Each time I interviewed him, I learned more disturbing details. As the words…
Every other week, I stop by my father’s retirement home, to refill his pill boxes. I have always managed his medications and find it to be a straight forward process and a simple way to care for him. I hadn’t seen him for weeks because I had been traveling, but in part, because I didn’t…
I’ve had multiple people comment on my composure in the video interviews of my father. To prepare for the interviews, I anticipated all the ways that my composure could affect him, and I made a conscious effort to remain calm and poised. I wanted my father’s responses to not be influenced by my tone of…