Discussion Topic
Introductions
Posted on 06/08/09, 04:42 pm
Hello, everyone.
I have started this discussion topic to give members of A Missing Persons Group an opportunity to tell us about themselves and their situations. I also encourage each of you to start an individual discussion topic on the missing people in your life or yourself if you are a missing person. What is your story?
As the founder of this discussion group, I owe all of you the following explanation.
I was separated from my family and relatives for several decades due to my being brought up in a home where starvation and physical and mental abuse occurred, and then being abducted in September 1978 at the age of 12 by a severely mentally ill individual. I wasn't allowed to attend school regularly, have friends, own possessions besides the one set of clothes I wore, or even go outside to play much of the time. When someone knocked on the door at any of the places where I was kept in cities around the U.S., I had to hide under piles of dirty laundry or face horrendous punishment. I was starved and beaten into submission by this criminal. I finally escaped at age 17, with no place to go and knowing no one, so I spent years living homeless, sleeping out in the open, unable to trust people or even speak to others from a lifetime of fear.
I finally located some of my family and relatives by posting information about myself on my personal page (profile) on the Daily Strength Website. I simply listed the names of some of my family members there, and one of them found it within a few months. While establishing relationships with these people that I never really knew is difficult, especially considering my unusual life experiences, I will strive over time to do what I can do.
Now it's your turn. Please remember that in this group, every member has been promoted to Administrator so that anyone who posts (types) anything can later delete it themselves at any time without any explanation being necessary. You need not feel that you have anything to fear or any reason to be embarrassed. What would you like us to know about you and your circumstances?
And, when you can, please read other members' stories and comment in any way that you can to be helpful or provide emotional support.
I have started this discussion topic to give members of A Missing Persons Group an opportunity to tell us about themselves and their situations. I also encourage each of you to start an individual discussion topic on the missing people in your life or yourself if you are a missing person. What is your story?
As the founder of this discussion group, I owe all of you the following explanation.
I was separated from my family and relatives for several decades due to my being brought up in a home where starvation and physical and mental abuse occurred, and then being abducted in September 1978 at the age of 12 by a severely mentally ill individual. I wasn't allowed to attend school regularly, have friends, own possessions besides the one set of clothes I wore, or even go outside to play much of the time. When someone knocked on the door at any of the places where I was kept in cities around the U.S., I had to hide under piles of dirty laundry or face horrendous punishment. I was starved and beaten into submission by this criminal. I finally escaped at age 17, with no place to go and knowing no one, so I spent years living homeless, sleeping out in the open, unable to trust people or even speak to others from a lifetime of fear.
I finally located some of my family and relatives by posting information about myself on my personal page (profile) on the Daily Strength Website. I simply listed the names of some of my family members there, and one of them found it within a few months. While establishing relationships with these people that I never really knew is difficult, especially considering my unusual life experiences, I will strive over time to do what I can do.
Now it's your turn. Please remember that in this group, every member has been promoted to Administrator so that anyone who posts (types) anything can later delete it themselves at any time without any explanation being necessary. You need not feel that you have anything to fear or any reason to be embarrassed. What would you like us to know about you and your circumstances?
And, when you can, please read other members' stories and comment in any way that you can to be helpful or provide emotional support.
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Reply #1 06/09/09 10:29am
WOW.. I am speechless ... this is a hard way of growing up.. and yet you are strong and never gave up .. .. I applause you .. you are a SuperHero.. to me.. Hugs and Love Simone -
Reply #2 06/22/09 6:12pm
Thank you, OmiMone.
Would anyone else like to add to this discussion topic? Remember, each of you is as much a part of this group as anyone else, and this group is here for your benefit. -
Reply #3 08/11/09 9:50am
aww Beaumont I cried but am so happy you found someone. You are one truly strong amazing person.
You and the work you do here on ds is so aspiring and I wish some how I could be of more help to you
Hugs
Sally -
Reply #4 08/11/09 10:43am
I am so sorry Beaumont I cried when I read your story.
I am so happy you found some of your family and relatives.
You are a very strong and amazing person. I admire all your
work here on DS. You are an Inspiration to all of us! :)
(((Hugs))) and
Love, Maria -
Reply #5 08/11/09 12:07pm
I grew up in a very abusive household. I was beaten almost
every day with a belt, shoes, broomstick anything my mom
could find. I always was black and blue sometimes unable to
leave the house. It all started when I was 5 years old... I tried
anything so my mom would love me more. Little I understood
way back than that my mom suffered from a mental Illness called
Bipolar ( she was hospitalized about 6 times because she tried
to end her life) and sadly she never took her medication.
But all of this I just found out myself in late 2005... when I
was hit by a horrible tragedy which almost ended my life.
My mom never took me in her arms, never told me that she
loved me. Maybe she did in her own way. Maybe she was unable
to express herself in a loving way? Sometimes I thought everything
was my fault. I always had to too hard house work every day. I had
very little time for myself. My father was abusive too especially when
my mom asked him to do so. It hurts really bad.
I felt so alone.
One day at dinner time my plate fell on to the floor...everything fell
in pieces. In horror I looked at my moms face. I knew what was
coming... I had to sit down on the floor and I had to
eat my dinner from the floor. My mom stood next to me watching..
Another time my mom called me in to the kitchen, she had a
fork in her hand. She called me to come closer to her and all
all of a sudden she stuck the fork in to my right hip.Than she
started to laugh. She thought it was funny...
I was never allowed to cry or the punishments or abuse got even
worse. I remember a summer day.... my mom was really upset
and she drew me on to the floor and sat on top of me
and she keep hitting my head over and over to the floor.
I could not take it anymore. I started to cry out loud and I asked
my mom why she keep doing all those horrible things to me.
My mom got up and she looked at me like she was far away
and than she started to cry. She said not one word to me.
I went to my room and I started to cry bitterly.
One day my mom told me that she really never wanted to have
me and that she hated me. I told her that I always knew but
that I loved her anyway because she was the only mom I had.
The abuse went on till I was 18 years old than I left my moms
house. My parents got divorced many years earlier.
I was raped when I was 17 years old...I will not get into what my
mom did to me. My child hood doctor molested me.My mom must
have known but she still send me and my sisters over there...We
had no choice but to go...All the neighbors knew what was going
on in our house but nobody ever helped.Only one time the police
came and they only told my mom to not be so hard on me.
After they left I go a beating.
I started to have severe panic attacks in my early 20's and I was
diagnosed with PTSD for the first time in1992.
I forgave my Mom many , many years ago because in my heart
I knew that she was different. I am sure that my mom loved me.
My mom died in 2001. I flew to Germany and I attended my Mom's
funeral...
In late 2005 while I was in the hospital I was diagnosed with
Bipolar and again with PTSD. I always was treated for severe
panic attacks... I am still in therapy today and I'm on medication.
I am doing much better today.
Of course I still have ups and downs because of Flashbacks
and Panic attacks. I take it one day at the time.
Every day is a New Beginning! :)
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Reply #6 08/12/09 5:47pm
Your stories touched me so much and i just wanted to fall to my knees and give thanks for having such wonderful parents. I know more than ever just how blessed I am.
Thank You both for sharing.
Hugs
Sally -
Reply #7 08/19/09 9:13pm
My thanks to each of you for participating in this discussion topic.
Love4you, like your mother, my mother would scream at me daily that I should have been an abortion, that I should never have been born, that she would do things to me so horrible that I can't say them to another person. When she went into one of her hours-long screaming tirades, she called me by other people's names and beat me until her own fat fists turned purple and her fingernails cracked and broke. I feared to even fall asleep.
She had among a host of other problems a disorder called 'Munchausen's by Proxy' in which she would do things to make me physically sick and then take me to a doctor to get a medication prescription for my 'illness'. She then stuffed the bottles of pills into a large purse that was filled with pill bottles. Everywhere we lived, the places would be strewn with these prescription pill bottles. When I passed out in doctor's offices, schools, or other places, she would tell people that I was mentally retarded and was faking it in order to make trouble for her, or that I had a heart condition. I frequently lost consciousness from severe malnutrition. I wasn't allowed to have food for days at a time, while my mother lived on a diet of bags of candy bars and cans of colas that made her so fat that she had to use a walker device to get around for a time.
It has taken me decades to realize that what happened to me wasn't my fault. I was not a bad person, or evil, or retarded, and I never had a heart condition. I was a child who was used by a monster called my mother, and I was hated by my father, who had his own set of severe psychological problems. Neither of them had enough normal aspects to their personalities to function as parents.
For those of you who are adult survivors of child abuse, know this: you survived; you are alive today, and somehow, you must make something of yourself in spite of your past. You are made of sturdy stuff, you are resilient, you are capable. You are stronger and more powerful than you know. I would like to encourage you to read what you find at the green-letter link that I am providing here; just mouse-click on it: www.dailystrength.org/groups/laugh... -
Reply #8 08/19/09 9:18pm
The link above has failed to go through properly, so please use this link instead: www.dailystrength.org/groups/laugh... -
Reply #9 09/11/09 5:19am
I joined this group because I have people missing in my life. When I was a teen, I went to work for a traveling magazine crew. It was so terrible that I have not been able to talk about the experience for years. Thanks to DS and my friends here, I was finally able to tell my story and in doing so, I no longer get so upset when I do.
I won't go into the whole thing here, but I am still looking for teens who also were with this company. One in particular - Sharon. She disappeared and I am very concerned about the conditions she disappeared under. Although I contacted the FBI and the police at the time, no one really believed my story - until about 10 years later when our paper did an investigation into this company. I have put the first page of the newspaper article in my photos, but it is not very readable - except for the headline: Mass Escape - Young People Claim Virtual Prisoners of Soap Sales Firm.
It is the same people, but they were now selling soap door to door instead of magazines since they had been fired from that business for unethical practices.
This was almost 40 years ago, yet there are still many kids in the U.S. who unwittingly get trapped in these companies and have a difficult time getting out. Most not as bad as the one I was with, but they are still abused.
Today there is a law in one state - only one - that protects our teens from this abuse. The Malinda Traveling Sales Protection Act. We need to get a federal law protecting kids from this.
If anyone has been involved in such a situation, I would love to hear from you!
And in the meantime, Sharon and Carol - I hope you made it home!
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Reply #10 09/15/09 11:51am
I am adopted.
I have major depression issues. I can help others But I sometimes feel worthless and can not seem to follow my own advice. I did finish my degree. But for what ever reason I can not either get what many would say a successful job with all that goes with it; or I really can not understand life; or I have some fear of success: or......
I know that I am a Christian and saved but I still have feelings of I am out side looking in or yelling "is that all there is!!!"
I have gotten good in research. I have 20 plus years in broadcast media. I am a new grampa.
But I still feel that there is something.....just .....out....of......my...reach....
Welcome
Join This Group
I remember you. Are you still out there somewhere? You are my sister, brother, mother, father, daughter, son, or other relative. We were separated by circumstances such as abduction, adoption, abusive in the home, family split-up, migration, natural disaster, misunderstanding, homelessness, personal tragedy, relocation, runaway, unexplained disappearance, war, or other circumstances. Do you remember me? All are welcome to join our group.
