* Co-dependence
* Enabling
What do they mean to you?
For my sister and me, it meant detachment from our mother. She could never tell us she loved us. She had trouble even touching us. It was almost as if she were afraid the emotions would rip something open in her, and tear apart the numbness around her heart.
The following passage of Shadow Heart is more from the night that changed my sister’s life forever.
“Where have you been?” My mother asked angrily. “I was so worried.”
Calmly and without emotion, her body in shock, Jenise answered, “I was raped.”
I saw my mother’s face become stone, trying her best not to let the hurt inside.
“I want to take a shower,” Jenise said as if she were a zombie.
“Just stay right there. Don’t move, wash, or take anything off. Don’t even comb your hair. We need to go to the hospital first,” my mother said. She was well aware of the protocol for rape from taking care of the girls at “Juvie” who’d been attacked.
I don’t know if she wanted to take her daughter in her arms and tell her she was sorry for what happened and that she loved her, but she didn’t. As always, she did a good job of pushing her emotions down, not losing control, or escalating an already delicate situation.
1. How did you feel in a moment you only wanted to be loved but the person near you, the person who was supposed to love you, didn’t understand?
2. How did you take care of yourself?
3. How could you change the situation even now?
Won’t you join in the discussion?
www.JourneysToAnOpenHeart.com
www.PamelaTaeuffer.com
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