Enduring Change

My mother woke us in the middle of the night and whispered we had to leave immediately.

I was too young to understand we were escaping years of violence. That night split

our lives in two. We stayed with relatives until my mother could work again, but because money

was so tight, she had to send me to live with another woman. That house had different

rules, harsher punishments, a different kind of pain. I learned early

that survival doesn't always look like safety, and courage doesn't guarantee comfort.

Sometimes leaving one hard place just means learning to endure another.