At the tender, impressionable age of 15, I fell head-over-heels in love with PW.  Oh, he was so fine…and those expressive dark eyes and thick, unkept curls that adorned his head just made me ’swoom’….

PW and I had the same circle of friends and we spent alot of time together…just hanging out….

After three long years, we finally became ‘intimate’ and we could not seem to get enough of each other…but after the novelty wore off the ‘bliss’ in our relationship began to spiral down down down….

PW began to metamorphosize right before my eyes.  He began to drink heavily and that amusing young man who once enjoyed telling jokes to make ‘me’ laugh became spiteful and oftentimes made ‘me’ the brunt and the target of his ridicule and wit in front of our friends.

He literally ‘zapped’ the fun out of our relationship.  My radiating smile transpired into an agonizing frown…as I became defensive, insecure, possessive, jealous and downright miserable. I became the victim of his emotional and physical abuse.

PW became quite the ‘player’ and I put on ‘blinders’ to the fact that he was blatantly ‘messing’ around with other girls…even when our mutual friends apprehensively began to confirm his behaviour.

I continued to be intimate with him becausse I was desperate to hang onto this tattered relationship.

I had become quite ‘gullible’.  (Yep, that’s the word)

On a rather ironic note and unbenounced to me, an acquaintance of ours was patiently waiting in the wings for me to come to my senses and leave this relationship.

George became my ‘rebound’.  Oh, he wasn’t fine.  He didn’t have curty dark unkept curls and expressive dark eyes, but he was very kind and gentle and he treated me like a lady.

Our relationship was short-lived;  however, when I discovered that I was carrying PW’s child.

I guess I could have remained in a relationship with George and raised the baby as his, but I decided to share the news of my impending  motherhood with PW…because after all, he was the father….

Geoge ‘bowed out’ like the gentleman he was….

On a note of irony, it was revealed that PW was quite fertile.  He had, in fact, gotten another girl pregnant and he was playing the both of us like a fiddle…going back and forth between us without a conscience….

Wow, that sure sounds like drama for one of the daytime talks shows of the 2000’s, doesn’t it?

I could have been reknowned as the victim of the day…exploited, ridiculed and judged before millions of viewers.

The consequences of this spiralling love were evident.  ‘I’ had allowed PW to take advantage of me. ‘I’ had the scars and bruises from his physical abuse.  ‘I’ allowed PW to strip me of my self-esteem…to become weak and dependent on him.

PW dropped me like a bag of trash and the pain and anguish of being used and abused was overwhelming.

Through prayer and family support, the deep emotional and physical scars began to heal and my self-esteem was rekindled.

I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl…without the emotional or financial support of a responsible father…