Nicole A. Sharpe

The End of November: Growing Up with Domestic Violence Nicole A. Sharpe

I was reluctant to write about my tumultuous childhood as I witnessed many bouts of abuse exacted by my father upon my mother. After all, writing has always been a way for me to escape the reality of the abuse, not to run to it. Encouraged by friends over the years to write about my experiences, I began jotting down painful memories as they came to me in a blog that I penned, wardofthecourt.blogspot.com. I started to experience gradual relief from the weight of carrying these heavy memories. I became light. As I began advocating domestic abuse, I thought that the blog would serve better as a book to help the victims, survivors and the most silent of these victims, the children who are forced to witness the abuse and the children who have been orphaned by domestic violence as I have been. My hope is that this book will help relieve the pain, the shame, the guilt and the loneliness that they feel as they realize that they are not alone and there is still life after the death of a parent(s) to domestic homicide. Hopefully, this book will also serve as a light to the eyes of the abuser who doesn't realize the pain they are putting their children through by brutalizing the other parent. WHO TO CONTACT IF YOU NEED HELP If your life has been threatened, call 911. Do not take an abuser's threat lightly. National TEEN Dating Abuse Hotline1-866-331-9474(1-866-331-8453 TTY) National Domestic Violence Hotline1-800-799-SAFE (7233)(1-800-787-3224 TTY) Violence Anonymous (12 Step Program for Recovery from Violent Behavior)http://www.violenceanonymous.com