Seeing Our Gifts
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every April for the last 10 years, I have reflected on the gift I was given. Gift? you might ask. Yes, I consider my journey of childhood sexual assault a gift, though I didn't always thing it was a gift. With the encouragement of some close friends, who have been parental figures to me, I walked into the Center for Prevention of Abuse in Peoria, IL about 10 years ago and into the office of one of the most amazing women I have ever known. Over the course of our sessions over weeks, months, and years, I was finally about to trust and open up. I trusted my counselor with intimate details of my life that my family and closest friends didn't even know. She made me feel safe. She asked the hard questions. She didn't let me get away with being silent...for too long anyhow. She knew when to push me and when to let me be. I was able to find someone who allowed me to truly be myself...angry, happy, tearful, frustrated, excited and every...