"Why doesn't she just leave?"  This is a question often asked of women living in domestic violence situations.  This quote says just one of reasons why women docan't "just leave."  She says it so much better than I can.

"Not having a good day, because of my living situation, I lost my three cats today, the woman who was taking care of them took them to the SPCA and never gave me a chance to come up with an alternative for them. My heart is severely broken. I hate my life and I cannot handle any more hurt and pain."  Karen

She is homeless because she did leave.   And is about to lose what few things she owns because of storage unit payments being so far behind.

What do I mean by full cicle?

As a teenager, I didn't imagine I would someday say "I am a survivor of domestic violence."  I planned to meet a wonderful man (I believed I did), marry him (was good for about 8 to 10 years), have children (2 sons),  and live happily ever after.  I can't pinpoint a specific time that we stepped into the circle of domestic violence because it was insidiously slow and disguised itself as every other type of problems.  We circled in chaos for a total of 23 years when we separated and our divorce was finalized the week of our 25th anniversary.  Journaling, counseling and a domestic violence support group helped me to step out of the full circle of domestic violence into becoming a survivor.