I was 31 when I became a mother. Many years after what I thought was enough time to get away from my abusive childhood.
My life was turned upside down after my first child was born. I breast fee him, Not knowing what to expect from my body. The physical feeling of milk letting down and vaginal blood rushes was something I had ignored since my childhood. Then I did not have control of my body as my step father sexually abused me.
It was the first of having memories flood my mind of my childhood. I started therapy and began to notice triggers in my life. PTSD and extreme depression snuck into my soul.
I was determined to not let my abuser take away my adulthood like he had taken away my childhood.
Not wanting cycles of abuse to go on in my family, I learned about normal childhood development through a parenting education program in Minnesota, known as Early Childhood Family Education.
Learning about the emotional development of children was another turning point in my healing. That along with my faith in God and my church family saved my two beautiful children (now adults) and my 36 yrs of marriage .
I have an ACE Score of 7. I have also learned and taught Protective Factors as define by the Center of the Study of Social Policy. These research informed factors to me are the what's next after you learn about ACE's.
Now a proud Grandmother of six, I move into another journey. I call it ACES after 65.
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