“No! Please don’t burn that!” I screamed while my father threw my grandmother’s handmade quilt into a flaming barrel behind our house.

the abuse.

It didn’t heal the trauma.

But for the first time, I realized there was a deeply damaged human being beneath the monster.

A man who chose cruelty instead of healing.

I spent the next two months renovating the house completely. I painted over the dark oppressive walls with warm colors and bright light. Then I moved my mother in with me.

To protect continue reading …