2007 STORY #1 – TURNING THE CORNER

We climbed into the car and headed to my in-laws’ house for Thanksgiving dinner.  I looked around and smiled as we turned the corner, heading towards our destination.  The whole family was together.  My 21 year old daughter, home from her final year in college; my 18 year old son, home for the first time from his first semester in college; my youngest son, 12-years old, an only child for the last few months; and my husband.  It was a good feeling to have everyone together, and to be doing something as a family unit.  We listened to Weird Al Yankovic’s Straight Outta Lynwood on the way.  What a hoot. We laughed all the way.

The last several years I found little to laugh or even smile about at this time of year.  The last few years I struggled with depression and flash-backs.  I looked forward to the end of the holiday season.  Four years ago I was sexually abused by a Baptist pastoral counselor.  The abuse occurred in the fall of 2003, ending in December of that year.

A series of amazing circumstances and events brought light back into my darkened world.  It started with Jane X, who is now my dear best friend.

Jane X was abused by the same pastoral counselor.  On the morning of December 23rd, 2003, my husband called me at work and told me that he believed that I was having an “affair” with this counselor.  He would change the locks to our home if I ever communicated with him again. Jane X’s husband gave my husband a call and they met within the hour of that phone call.  He unfolded a story of this counselor’s predatory past and the damage that had been done to his wife and others.  He and my husband concluded that I was also being sexually exploited by this counselor and my husband called me a second time.  My world as I knew it had spun out of control.  But miraculously, I was being rescued. 

It took over two years of meetings with police, the district attorney’s office, lawyers and hearings to succeed in a sentence of 5 years probation and a listing as a registered sex-offender.  Another year of depositions and hearings in civil litigation followed. 

During the last year and a half, Jane X and I have been a part of organizing and speaking at two seminars on sexual abuse by professionals.  Our last seminar on the campus of the University of Texas-Pan American included a nationally-known speakerand was attended by over 100 people. 

I’ve purchased and read many books on the subject.  I told some of my story to reporters on local television news.  And I began seeing a new therapist this fall and started working on some older issues that may have contributed to my vulnerability.