A Beautiful, Terrible Conversation – Part Three: Standing

“He hurt me, he scarred me, and even at forty-four it’s changed me forever. I thought of my students who’ve been through this and worse. It doesn’t matter if it happens if you’re fourteen or forty-four, it changes you, how you view the world. How you view yourself. For the first time, I could see myself as something else besides a strong, female teacher. I could be a strong woman.”