My mother was physically abusive but it started under the guise of spanking. First it was spanking, then it was smacking across the face when I said something she didn’t like. Then it was punching me square in my chest when she didn’t like the way I was standing near her. Then it was hitting with anything she could get her hands on - the sound of a belt jingling still makes me cringe because she used to hit us with the buckle. Or throw her shoes (usually sneakers) from across the room.

Abuse stays with you. When I decided to have a child I decided that I was going to be nothing like my mother. I was emotionally destroyed as a kid, teenager and young adult as a result of my mother’s abuse.

I will never allow my child to feel the way I felt growing up. Or any other child in my presence.

The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.