Image Credit: Ethical_Leader

Today, July 17, 2025, marks the 15-year anniversary that I was able to safely escape from my abusive ex-boyfriend, John. I’m grateful for all the support that I received back then and now. It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years.

When I wrote the ten-year anniversary post in July 2020, we were just over four months into the global pandemic. It doesn’t feel like that was five years ago, it feels longer!

While I haven’t re-read Tornado Warning: A Memoir of Teen Dating Violence and its Effects on a Woman’s Life or If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation recently, I think about both those books often.

I continue to educate myself about red flags, coercive control, financial abuse, gaslighting, and love bombing, among other things. I’m grateful to everyone who has listened to me share my experiences, or read my posts about this on the blog. My goal is to help people and educate themselves.

The other thing that I am very proud of is that I published my first novel on Amazon on February 21, 2023. I took pieces of my own experiences, created a compelling story that started all the way back with one question in November 2012, and now it’s out for the world to read. I appreciate everyone who has read it thus far, both in the U.S. and internationally. I have plans for more books, including a sequel to this one, which I’m hoping to publish in the next couple of years.

John was always critical of was my writing and my voice, so I am exceptionally proud of myself for reclaiming both and turning it into something amazing. You can’t shut me up.

---

Janine Latus continues to impress me and inspire me with her continued advocacy around the world. She recently gave an interview to the podcast Cardinal Crimes. I highly recommend that everyone watch the YouTube video where she is featured, I’ve linked it down below. It reminded me how grateful I am that I was able to leave safely. Not all women, or men, are as fortunate.

Domestic violence continues to be a major problem, particularly in the U.S. – It feels like every other day, there’s a new news report about a domestic disturbance that unfortunately escalated into something worse.

Here locally, several months ago, a woman who was five weeks pregnant with her third child was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend. The house is down the street from my chiropractor’s office, which is only 10 minutes from my own house. They have two other children, and both were in the house when the tragedy occurred. These young children will have to live with that for the rest of their lives, compounded by the fact that their mother is dead, along with their unborn sibling, and their father is in prison for his actions. I’m glad the father was arrested quickly and is being held accountable. I was honestly afraid he was going to take the coward’s way out, either through suicide or suicide by cop. I hope the children are getting counseling and other support.

---

In the last 15 years, I have been fortunate to be embraced by Al. We met quite unexpectedly, and I wasn’t prepared to have a new friendship turn into love so quickly. I certainly didn’t expect to become friends with him in August 2010. Our first date was September 4, 2010. But I truly believe that we were meant to be together.

Now, we have Addy. We are so blessed that she is here and healthy. For someone who didn’t have high hopes of successfully conceiving and having a child or children given my family history (Grandma had seven miscarriages and my uncle and mom were both premature, then my mom had three miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, then surgery to correct her deviated uterus, then my birth at 25 weeks), it was amazing that my pregnancy was relatively smooth with the exception of my blood pressure and those complications that led to Addy being born six weeks early.

She’s growing like a weed. I can’t believe she will be two (2) in October. I see a lot of me in her. I hope her feistiness will serve her well as she grows up. I know I can’t shelter her forever, nor do I want to. I want to instill the lessons that I have learned, particularly the ones I’ve learned the hard way, long before she finds herself in a sticky or dangerous situation. I want to be the best mom that I can be.

I want to do things differently than my mom did with me (Not saying that my mom wasn’t wonderful, she is!) But times have changed so much, and I have so many more tools now at my disposal, along with my experiences, to help Addy.

I’m spending today reflecting on how I got here, and where I’m headed. I have many more blog posts to write, more novels to publish, and I want to become a stronger advocate for survivors. If my story can help just one person, I will be satisfied.

---

Resources

Tornado Warning: A Memoir of Teen Dating Violence and its Effects on a Woman’s Life, Elin Stebbins Waldal

If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation, Janine Latus

REVISIT: Janine Latus, Domestic Violence, Self Worth, & Subtle Red Flags, Cardinal Crimes

---

Thank you for reading. I appreciate all of you, my readers, through this continued blogging journey.

I’m also exceptional grateful to Al, who took a chance on me almost 15 years ago. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage in November. My heart is full.

---

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂