Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark

We all have our own scars. Let them be a blessing and not a curse.

Y'know, I think I've learned something here today. I've learned that friendship is like cheese. The longer it sits around, the stronger it gets...and that, that...friends are like cheap toupees. You've gotta hang onto 'em when things get stormy. But most of all, I've learned that you can search and search the wide world over, but in the end, your own backyard is right...behind...your house.

For so long, I’d believed I was doing the right thing by sticking out the marriage to keep our family together, but I finally realized that staying in such a dysfunctional relationship was worse than the alternative.

Suddenly one day I sprouted boobs. Not *just* boobs. Enormous boobs. When puberty finally struck, I developed faster than a Polaroid. In my mind at least, I remember going to bed flat as a board one night and waking up with ginormous breasts the next morning. It was like, whoa, dude - this is better than the tooth fairy!

I've truly come to believe that had it not been for my childhood accident, I would never have grown into the woman who embraces the strange , the weird, the bizarre.

I would sometimes fantasize about dyeing my hair, changing my name, or grabbing our child and fleeing the country. I often felt so desolate and hopeless. I considered death as a means of escape. Mine or his didn't matter.

What was stopping me besides the fact that I wasn't pretty enough, talented enough, old enough, or tall enough. That's the moment I decided not to let little things like facts, discourage me one way or another...

My favorite band's lyrics spoke to me more powerfully than any parent or teacher ever could. They helped me figure out who I was, what I was feeling, and possibly, where I was headed.

I was someone who had spent most of her life hanging around with gay men, and now here I was, ashamed of my feelings for a woman. I felt like such a hypocrite. I eventually gave up my ridiculous preconceived notions about what sexual category I fit into and realized that when you love someone, and they love you back, that's all that matters.

To quote St. Augustine (whoever he is), “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.

Abusers aren’t interested in wimps. They like a challenge. If an abusive man perceives his spouse or girlfriend as having more power than he does, taking her down a notch or two gives his self-esteem, security, and identity a boost.

The Verbally Abusive Relationship by Patricia Evans,

The Opposite of Famous