My Cousin Shannon

Sorry, I havent been posting, Ive been alittle busy. After two & a half years of not knowing if she was alive or dead, I finally was reunited with my cousin. Ill explain!!

I pretty much raised my cousin from about 3 years old & up, she was always in my life one way or another. We are 10 years apart, so I wasnt always mature enough to be raising anyone when I started caring for her.
Long story short, She was never one to pick the right type of Boyfriend. Which seems to run in the family!! From the moment she started dating boys, she seemed to always pick the most abusive. It seemed I was always on a mission to try & save her from being abused or even killed by the one she was with. When I was able to get her away from one guy, she ended up seeing someone else who would either hit her, or abuse her in some way. I believe it has a lot to do with things that happened to her when she was younger. Another family curse!!
Ok on with the story!! About 9 years ago she met someone named Roger & moved in with him. At first he seemed like he could be different from all the rest, but it was short lived. When he started hitting her he knew that he had to get me out of her life one way or another. One thing abusive men do is cut off all their ties to anyone who could possibly help her. Its typical for abusive men to cut off the family as well. They just dont want the woman their with to have any resources of any kind & have to only depend on them for survival. So immediatly thats what he set out to do was get her away from me. That way she wouldnt have a place to go, or someone to help her. She started sneaking phone calls to me here & there, we would have to sneak to see me as well. I tried to talk sense into her, but no matter what it had to be her decision to leave him, not mine. Then she ended up pregnant & had a baby with him, so that made her want to stay that much more. While she was pregnant she had tons of black eyes & bruises everywhere. It was really hard for me to see her & see all these things happening & not be able to do anything about it. Finally he found out we were still in contact, & he had her call me to tell me she never wanted to see or talk to me again. It broke my heart!! But that is when I made up my mind & wrote her a letter to never contact me again until he was completely out of her life. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I felt I had to do it. I couldnt handle seeing it anymore or deal with the heart brake of her telling me she wasnt able to talk to me. That day I thought I would never see her again, she was either going to die at his hands or stay with him forever. So I had to forget her & try to move on!! That was 2 & a half almost 3 years ago!!

Last month I went to get my hair done & the lady told me she heard that Shannon left Roger a few months ago & she was trying to find me. My jaw dropped!! When I got home I got on the phone with her father & she did in fact leave Roger a year ago & has been trying to get ahold of me for months. I left my number & she called me 20mins later. She is now happy, healthy, & has a new man in her life. She now has a 3 year restraining order on him, hes now paying her childsupport, & She is able to have me in her life again. I cant post where she lives just in case he were to ever see this post. But I am so proud of her & so happy!! I drove two hours to go pick her, & her boyfriend up. They stayed with me for the past three nights, & three days. It was the first time I got to see her little boy since he was 1 1/2 or 2, hes now 5 years old. We had an awesome time, it felt like we had never stopped talking. I took her back home yesterday & its been a really awesome three days. ;)

Life is good right now, & its even better since she is back in my life. I love you Shamman!!

Take care everyone!! Love always, MM XOXOXOXO