Story Time!

My son Max reading ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ – upside down! He had decided he didn’t want me to read it to him, as he felt he was more than capable of doing so himself…

Who am I to argue with him? ❤

Max’s Conversation With A Cat

(My gorgeous son chilling eating grapes and watching T.V.).

My son Max really does make me laugh.

He is an animal lover like his mummy.

In the garden last week, a cat decided it was going to stroll through. Catching Max’s eye, my son’s face suddenly had a huge smile on it, and he started to converse with it. The cat stopped, and bearing in mind, Max cannot say “meow” properly, the conversation went something like this:

Max – “owwww.”

Cat – “Meow”

Max – “Ow?”

Cat – “Meow, meow.”

Max – “owww, owww.”

As the cat walked off and Max said “Bye”.

It was one of the cutest conversations ever! 😀 ❤

Today Is My Birthday

Today is my birthday, so I’m going to change things up a little bit. What I’ve decided to do, is to tell about my birthdays from 2011 to 2014. This is significant, because for all these birthdays, I’ve known *Steve.

March 6th 2011

Steve was meant to be in the UK with me to celebrate. We had spoken about it for a while and it was his idea in the first place. He didn’t make it. Instead, he said he didn’t have a civilian passport, and was not allowed to use his military passport for personal travel, claiming this was a new ‘rule’. I spent my birthday alone and embarrassed as I had told everyone he was coming. To add insult to injury, he sent me a message sounding like something was wrong. When I did call him, worried, he wished me a happy birthday. He actually made me pay for the call for him to do so. To try and cover his tracks, after I complained to his sister *Anna, he lied and said he’d bought me a birthday card but forgot to post it. A lie he would admit to later as being just that, a lie, because I wouldn’t drop the matter.

March 6th 2012

Steve insisted I be in the US with him for my birthday. Seeing as the last one was so disastrous, I was reluctant. However, I was attending the Military Ball with him on March 10th, plus I was moving out to the US to be with him for good so March 3rd was set. He promised we’d do something for my birthday, something really nice to make up for the previous year. Well, we did. I spent the whole day at home by myself as he was working. When he finished work, we went to Perkins. (For those who don’t know, Perkins is a version of Wetherspoons in the UK). That was it. It was not worth it. He was happy; he no longer came home to an empty apartment. I was miserable. Stuck indoors day in, day out.

March 6th 2013 

In the early hours of the morning, I was trying to call the police. I’d had enough of everything. The controlling, the abuse, the violence, the bullying, and then some. He had just tried to kill me by pinning me down and was trying to suffocate me. All 260lbs+ of him. I was at an angle on the bed. At the realisation of what I was about to do, he came crashing down on me as if we were in a wrestling ring. My right knee popped out of place; then back in place again. I was in agony. The pain was indescribable. I’d had a caesarian just two and a half months earlier so was still in pain from that also. (The physical abuse he was inflicting on me made it take longer for me to heal). All of this was in front of his new born son. I just thank God my son will not remember any of this. I told Steve I needed to go to the hospital. He refused to take me, stating that if he did, I would snitch on him and that they would believe anything I told them. I didn’t get my knee checked out until I returned to the UK. Limping, I had an x-ray appointment on May 22nd. To this day, my right knee still ‘clicks’ and I still find myself limping sometimes. It’s getting better, but it’s been a long process. After this, he went and bought me a fake gold chain with a heart key pendant that said “LOVE” on it. A key to his heart. Was that supposed to make everything OK? I think not. I still left him six days later when I boarded a plane back to the UK with my 12 week old son, using a one way ticket.

March 6th 2014

Present day. I have had the most wonderful birthday. Rich in love, I have my family and friends supporting me. I was woken up by my gorgeous son this morning and received a hug from him which has become the norm. Thankfully, he didn’t try to physically open my eyes which he has tried to do on many occasions! But today was different. It was special. His smile started my day perfectly. No arguments. No lies. No deceit. The best birthday I’ve ever had since knowing my son’s father.

Although I’m not where I want to be yet, I have come a long way. I’ve have food in the cupboards and fridge; my son does not know hunger like I do because of his father. My son has more clothes than me! Considering when I left, he literally only had the clothes on his back, as did I. I have eighteen pairs of footwear now and five jackets and coats. I didn’t have any when I landed in the UK. Only the cheap pair of $12.00 pumps I got after wearing broken shoes for four months, which I returned to him. Slowly but surely, I’m replacing things I lost, such as my laptop. I purchased one on October 31st 2013 after Steve smashed mine to bits in December 2012 so I couldn’t call my mother via Skype. It took me seven and a half months to scrape the money together, but I did it! My eldest sister bought Microsoft Office for me on Monday 3rd as I couldn’t afford it. My mother let me live rent free with my son. Gaia, a Domestic Violence Group has been wonderful. Referred to by my lovely doctor, I came to terms with certain things. The main one being I have to pick myself up, as well as having to be proud of myself that I had the strength to walk away and come out of the situation ALIVE! And with my son. This is just a ‘taste’ of what I have being doing and what I have achieved since walking away.

With what little money I have coming in, I make sure my son is fine first and foremost. Although what I have is very little (material wise), I donate to charity. Mostly to the food bank because no one should go hungry, especially in this day and age. I’m going to stretch my tiny budget even further now, by donating to animal charities. I love animals. I am proud to say, I’m an Animal Advocate. On a daily basis, I do all I can to save as many as possible, mainly in the UK and US, but all over the world too. I no longer eat meat; although I still eat chicken and fish, but I will eventually stop eating these too.

Thank you to my wonderful friend Elaine, who encouraged me to start my blog in the first place and doing the research for me as I didn’t even know where to begin. I think she is my number one fan! She made me believe I could do this, and I have.

Last but not least, I have encountered some amazing people who have been so supportive but I’ve never even met! One person I would like to point out is sweetmarie9616. I cannot believe this woman’s compassion towards me after being through so much herself. From day one, she’s been there for me, as if she’s an angel specially picked out for me, to help me every time I stumble or fall. I thank her with all of my heart. Thanks to everyone else too, who have followed my blog and have said the right things at the right time – especially when I nearly had a melt down just a few days ago.

Today is my birthday. Cards. Gifts. Cake. My son. Family. Friends. It’s been a very blessed one indeed! 🙂

(*Not their real names)