I have a dear friend that I have known for quite some time. This is her story...
Allison grew up living with her parents and her 2 older brothers. For as far back as Allison remembered, there had always been turmoil in the family. Allison's father was an alcoholic, so the family had been subject to years of emotional and verbal abuse during his drunken stupors. As the years went by, Allison knew that her family's lives should not be this way, but she still accepted it as a fact of life. But after her brothers had both married and began their own families away from home, Allison began to realize that a change needed to be made, and that if her father wouldn't make it, she and her mother would have to. The real breaking point came one day in January 2005. Allison was a full-time student and was supposed to have spent her weekend studying for a computer programming test that Monday. But instead she listened to 5 days of her father's drunken cussing and constant fighting with her mother. So when her test day came, Allison skipped the class and waited around outside for her friend Wendy to finish so they could talk. When Wendy finally emerged from the class, they made their way out to their cars. That's when Wendy asked what was going on, because she knew that Allison had never skipped a test. Allison hesitated for a moment and suddenly broke down. She told Wendy everything about what life had been like for the last 18 years of her life. She revealed the emotional abuse and old of threats that had been made to her mother if she ever tried leaving her father. Wendy tried to calm Allison own and gave her a few numbers to call for help. Wendy told her that they both needed to get out and that she would help in any way she could. So Allison left, and on her way home, she decided that they WOULD get out, that they WOULD find a place of their own and get out of that hell-hole. When she got home, Allison's father was nowhere around so Allison sat down with her mother and told her about the conversation with Wendy. She gave her mother her word that somehow they would get out and make it together. So, they began making plans and trying to decide how to fund the effort. But since Allison was a student and only worked part-time and her mother was physically handicapped, the efforts seemed hopeless. They never forgot their commitment to leave but had to force themselves to hold on together and bide their time until a chance came along. Well, it was almost a year later in January of 2006 (now), that their chance seemed to come. Allison had received financial aid to help pay for her books and had almost every penny of it ($1800)left. Her mother had applied for disability sometime back, and just when she thought there was no hope, she received a check for backpay in the amount of $1000. Also, Allison had just received her paycheck a few days later, giving them quite a large sum to work with and achieve their once-impossible dream. They began visiting local agencies applying for assistance and looking for a place to call their own. And.......
In case you did not notice, this story is taking place in the present. SO, that means that as things progress for my friend and her mother, the story will be updated. So until then, please keep Allison and her mother in you thoughts. Thank you!
Kerri
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