Fighting for Answers | Author Archives | Page 6carl, Author at Fighting for Answers

On Suffering Childhood Abuse

Suffering childhood abuse, it’s a topic that is in the news every day. Especially now with all of the celebrities that are speaking out about the events that happened in their lives when they were first starting out. On social media, people are asking, “why wait 20, 25, or 30 years to talk about it?” It’s simple really. For most, it boils down to shame. For others, fear. I think, for celebrities, it would include their desire to continue to work in their chosen field. How do I know? I was abused for a period as a child. I don’t broadcast it from the roof tops, in fact, I rarely speak about it. When it happened, I disavowed anything happening to me at all. Talking about such a thing as a child is rarely done until the person is into adulthood and trying to figure out why their life is

Coming Home – a letter for my son

David, In less than 24 hours, you will be coming home. You will have completed yet another stay in a care facility. As much as the facility would have us believe differently, there is no cure for your condition. I explained it once to you, maybe you remember? I also told you there is no cure for the condition you were born with. You have something called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It is within a group of disorder known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Like Autism, there are wide variations in the symptoms that people with this condition have. This is why we see so many specialists. Why do you have this? When your birth mom was pregnant with you, she did a lot of things that were not healthy for you, these included using drugs and alcohol. As much as I want to say that she is evil, I can’t.

About that quilt…

“About that quilt.” I know, the title is rather cryptic. It is not at all descriptive. And that’s okay. Last Spring, I wrote about the unfinished quilt. Remember? I wrote about how in a situation like ours, we were constantly removing pieces of the quilt and trying different things in their place. Since we moved last summer, we have made incredible changes. Our family dynamic has changed. We owe this simply to the move into the city from our small community. Jobs changed. Stress levels are reduced. We now have four kids in college. So what is different? Simply put – Everything. This time when David is discharged, he will be coming home to a new house he has never lived in. He will be starting a new school. He will have access to activities that weren’t available in our small town. He should have access to a greater range