I was sexually abused as a young child by a beloved adult cousin. Knowing my parents would believe him over me caused me to repress the memory for twenty years. Many years later, I know I made the right decision.

When I did tell my mother what had happened, one of her dispassionate responses was, “How could you have been frightened (by the incident) if you didn’t know what sex was?” I also found out that all along, she knew her cousin had done something terrible to me.

Now in her 90’s, she has never acknowledged the damage done to me.

It took a long time for me to move from “Oh, well, it happened” to an active pursuit of healing.