My childhood
My ability to relate to other people
My trust in others

Those would be the three main and most important costs in my life

My childhood.
My sanity.
My dignity (the way I allowed myself to behave)
A life I'll never know had it NOT happened.
Normal relationships.
Parents I can rely on.
A sister.
Three marriages.
Complete happiness.
And on and on and on......

HOWEVER.....these are things that I do control at various points in time. But I can't help but think that had it NOT happened.....my life would be SO much different. Obviously.

pretty much everything, i never new my childhood as before my abuse i was sick in the hospital and a year after being out i started to be abused so the abuse was an add on to everything i had indured before. there is alot that has cost me

my sanity and my trust

I think for me the biggest cost was my childhood. i hear people recalling stories from their childhood days with a smile on their face. For me the happy memories I do have are of things I might have eaten and my stuffed bunny rabbit toy that I used to confide it.

My childhood was filled with beatings and sexual abuse and fear...so not much to be happy about.

I now have my own daughter and I keep telling her to enjoy her childhood and just be a kid, dont' grow up to fast cos you are only a child for such a short time.

Again it was my child that was abused. I'm trying to make her feel good. She is told daily that i love her, trust her and believe she is a great person. She is just beginning to talk bout her abuse openly. Can this save what is left of her childhood? God I hope so..She has lost her fave. aunt and uncle. Abuser was their 13 yr old son. Hopefully our love and counseling will help

my life

scared4k: keep her talking it will save her a lot of pain. I wish when I was eight there was some way i could have talked.

for what it is worth my girl friends - we live together and my best buddy who is eight was starting to be abused by his older brother. nothing to serious if that is possible. but i had trained joey to come to me or his mother if anyone ever touched him inapppropriately. he cam to me a few days after the game his older brother was playing. We nipped this one in the bud and the older brother is in counselling. The counselor says the little guy didn't experience any lasting trauma. I think education of or young is the only way we will put an end to the abuse.

you are both in my prayers and keep being a loving and nurchuring mothem.

my dignity
my self esteem
my trust in others
my ability to cope in current situations
my ability to focus on other things in my life
my enjoyment of hs

i have become secretive... everyone knows im screwed up just not why

my childhood
my self respect
my ability to love myself and others
my confidence
my trust in other people

I would say for me.. My childhood. I feel I lost so much during a time where I should have been free to be a child.. but I grew up too fast.. too many horrors.. too many things...Second would be trust.. and followed by self esteem.

I just read Melsande's post about her child...as a parent.. I am determined not to let my children grow up like I did...and not let them grow old before their times.. being stripped of being a chid stays with you....but as a parent.. I get to watch the awe and wonder of my own children.. and know that at least they are safe.

Absolute trust, to a certain extent i trust them, but not enough to tell them anything. The only person i can only trust is me, because they will all let you down.
The life and the "normality" i could have had.
Friends, that i know love me, that i push further and further away every day.

My childhood, my memory, my happiness, healthy relationships, my body, my self esteem, my ambition, my sanity.

But at the same time it has made me stronger. And maybe my boyfriend and I wouldn't have the relationship we have if we didn't have to go through some of this.

EVERYTHING