Growing up in a family in Deep South Mississippi, I had quit high school my senior year and married my high school sweet heart.  I had been sexually abused by an uncle from the time I was four years old until I was about twelve and was still feeling the familial oppression from revealing those experiences, when I burst out of the door of that oppression, only to walk right back through another.  The man I married, who I had met at my home church, began to abuse me both emotionally and physically soon after our marriage. When I sought for understanding and help, I was repeatedly told by some of my family members that I should not “air my dirty laundry,” which was a common construct of the Deep South culture I was raised in.  By the time I realized what was happening to me, I had two small children and felt it was too late to do anything much about it.  Six more children later, I finally attempted to walk out that door of oppression. Having grown up to believe, “Once married, always married,” I have remained in the marriage for more than twenty-five years, and though I am still married to my husband, I choose not to live with him, because of the history of abuse.   

Since leaving my own home with not much other than the clothes on my back, I have fully paid for a mobile home of my own, finished my bachelor’s degree, and am nearing completion of my master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Christian Counseling from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Ms..  With only a few more classes to go, my hope is to someday work with victims of sexual and domestic violence in a Christian atmosphere.  I have taken the steps I believe will help to make that happen, but I know that it will only be possible by the hand of God.  The strength I have found to overcome adversity is not my own, but by the grace of God, I have and will overcome whatever comes my way. 

My daughter has often been my inspiration, and I so want to make her as proud of me someday as I am of her.  Without her love, encouragement, and listening ear, I might have given up long ago.  She grew up by my side in a home filled with violence and oppression, and walking out that door first, has given me courage to open that door and peek out at the big wide world outside of it.  She has led me down the pathway of overcomers by taking those steps first.  I may not have always made the right choices, or done the right thing, but through her love and forgiveness for my failure to protect her from all that she experienced, I know that I will walk out that door of oppression and overcome all my adversities. 

 My daughter is truly a strong woman, who I believe will be a beloved asset to the long line of North Carolina women that made it so great a place to call home.  I hope that my little uprooted Rose of Mississippi that has been transplanted to the rich soils of North Carolina will have strong roots and strong branches to hold all the new blossoms of those who will come after her and help them grow.  And as mother’s day nears, I hope she will remember the strong arms that held on to her and rocked her as a baby.  I hope she will remember the lips that whispered prayers for her and kissed her cheeks with the wet tears that were often streaming down my face.  I hope she will remember the voice of the angel that sang her to sleep with the lullabies of happy dreams and the solemn hymns of peace beyond any understanding. And lastly, I hope that she will strive to make things better for others that walk down the path that we walked, and help them burst through the doors of oppression as she has helped me.  May God truly bless the strong North Carolina woman she has become, who this Mississippi Mama calls Rose.