• Posted By landismom @ 9/30/2005 09:51:00 AM • • •
Friday, September 30, 2005
a difficult moment
Yesterday, the Bee told me that one of her classmates (let's call her Lily) had told her (the previous day at school) that she saw her stepfather throw her mom across the room, and then punch a metal door. For a moment, I was stunned into silence. I asked the Bee what Lily's reaction had been, and she said, "she was really scared." I said, "are you scared too?" And she looked at me and said, "yes."
We had a long talk about the fact that her father would never in a million years do such a thing to me (or to anyone else for that matter), and how crazy it is that some people think it's okay to hit someone when they are mad at them. I told her that if she was ever in a similar situation, she should call the police immediately, even if it was someone she loved who was acting crazy, because it's not okay for people that you love to do that either. And then I told her some stuff about my dad, stuff that I didn't think I was going to have to tell her about for years. I told her about the time that he threw our phone through the window, and the time he threw our dog against the wall, and how much it scared me and how I wish that someone had told me it was okay to ask for help from the police. And how it made me realize that I would never get into a relationship with a person who would treat me like that.
It was a really unnerving conversation to be having at the breakfast table.
I walked her to school, and thought about what else to do. I asked the Bee if Lily had told any teachers about what happened, and she said she didn't think so. After I dropped the Bee off in her classroom, I found the principal and told him about it, and he immediately said he would call one of the district counselors to come over and talk to Lily.
As I walked home, I felt riven by bad memories from my childhood. One of my brothers often says that he can't remember anything that happened to him before he was 17. Sometimes, I wish I had that problem.
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