Survivor Stories

My little voice – Kristen’s Story

One day, after months of fights and bickering, I decided to end my relationship with Ben. We were arguing all the time, and it was exhausting. It was like I could never do anything right. What kind of laundry detergent I bought, what I made for dinner, what time I...

Opening Doors: Pam’s Story

I grew up in a large and loving family in middle class Buffalo with plenty of opportunities to observe and experience loving family relationships. As a young adult, I had a professional career outside the home and was a mid-level manager in my field. If you were to...

A Game of Chess: Amaya’s Story

  My ex-boyfriend called me the morning of my 23rd birthday, informing me that he was going to be with me “whether I liked it or not”. We had a long distance relationship, which only illustrates the level of control he had over me while living miles away.  He was...

A New You ~ Laura’s Story

It was 2:00 am when the door opened to the house.   “Why am I not surprised?!” he yelled, as the refrigerator door slammed. I crept downstairs to the kitchen.  As usual, he was intoxicated.  I should have known better, but I did it anyway: I asked him where he had...

Defining Survivor

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a survivor as 1. To remain alive or in existence, 2. To continue to function or prosper. Reading the definition makes it sound so simple and easy just to be. For me to truly appreciate being a survivor, I had to first become a...

The First Morning

The first morning that I woke up in bed alone after ten years of turmoil, I was amazed.  I expected grief, I expected regret, I expected an overwhelming sense of loss.  What I had not expected was the overwhelming ANGER.  I had anger toward someone who was no longer...

Butterflies

by Sharon Morgan When I was a girl I used to spend long summer hours catching butterflies then carefully mounting them in my prized display case. Admiring their beauty and in awe of their miraculous life cycle, I imagined that I too, had a set of beautiful wings. In...

Productive Fear

It’s September in Buffalo so like many Western New Yorkers, I’m thinking about snow.  When will the first flakes fall? What costumes work over parkas? Are there really 50 Inuit words for snow? Then it hit me.  We need 50 variations of the word fear. But I’ll start...

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