Here we go...

 As I sit here late at night on October 15th, I am shocked by how excited I am for tomorrow to come.  For the last twelve years I have had a somber, fearful feeling on this night.  I wrestle with the dark emotions inside that remind me that this date in 2002 was the last evening of "normal" my family and I would experience together.  As dramatic as it sounds, it is true.  Everything changed by noon the next day when my children and I were abducted by a true monster and introduced to a new world that no longer felt safe.  The bubble of innocence I lived in as a mom with two small children popped that afternoon and the violence of the outside world enveloped us.  It was such a foreign feeling. My husband and I purposefully chose to raise our children in the same suburban Miami neighborhood we had grown up in as kids ourselves.  In one day,  the streets I had travelled on for over 25 years went from being full of beauty and familiarity to dark and shadowy trails I did not recognize at all.   

Tonight however, I realize how much color has come back into our lives.  It has been a long, frustrating thirteen years of growth but with the launch of this new website and non-profit I feel like I am finally making my mission "official".  For six years, I have travelled nationwide to speak to anyone who will listen to me about the special needs of rape survivors and how communities can best serve them.  I have been a one-woman grassroots operation trying to make a difference by simply knocking on doors and reaching out to as many people as I can, one group at a time.  When people ask me where I work , I never know what to say.  I don't work for anyone I guess.  I am a survivor and an activist with a story to tell and I spend all of my time volunteering and pushing for changes in the system.  I am very grateful for the opportunities I have been given  and I am proud to witness real progress happening around me. While I laid on the floor of my van on October 16th, 2002 I pleaded with God to spare my life and the lives of my children.  I promised him I would spend the rest of my days walking through every door he opened for me without question.  I have done that and it has brought me to this place.

Thank you for reading this and thank you for visiting my new website and learning more about the Not Just Me Foundation.  I will be forever grateful to the people who have helped in my healing and those who have loved my family back to life.  You have given me the courage to take this leap of faith and add to more power to my mission.  Here we go...