I survived domestic abuse and then left my home state of Illinois to get away from my abuser. He had been driving around trying to find me, threatening to come find me, and then ultimately was charged & convicted with violating my order of protection for it.
So I left Illinois for my safety.
Then I moved to Colorado. I had originally (at the very beginning), naively posted that I had moved to Colorado in one video and quickly deleted it, but I’m sure it’s how my abuser found out where I lived. Because then he sent me harassing videos threatening to come find me in Colorado.
That was two years after I escaped him.
And I got the order of protection against him extended for 2 more years because of that. Because again, he threatened to come find me in Colorado.
And when I filed the police report, the police told me to watch my back and call 911 if he showed up to find me in Colorado. And I watched my back everywhere I went, wondering if he was going to show up and find me as he had threatened, because he had done it before.
Then, this summer, we moved out of Colorado. And I have not publicly shared where we moved. I have been keeping it so close to the heart because my reality is: I AM A SURVIVOR OF DOMESTIC ABUSE. And for the rest of my life, that’s what it is. It’s what I am. And that impacts and affects me, for now and forever.
So I don’t share where we moved online. And I’m so, SO hyper aware of that and protecting that.
At my abuser’s sentencing back in January, the Judge admonished him and told him not to ever look for me or try to communicate with me. The Judge told him, “she (meaning me) doesn’t even want you to know what STATE she lives in!” YES. EXACTLY. And my abuser is prohibited from communicating with me as part of his sentencing.
After everything I’ve gone through, we’ve made the decision that we will not be sharing our baby online. I don’t even want to share her name online. No pictures of her face. Limited pictures of the back of her head even.
Like, my husband has this wonderful job and I’ve asked him not to update his LinkedIn about it to keep our location secure.
There are sacrifices we make, choices I make DAILY, to protect this information BECAUSE of what I’ve gone through.
This is the reality of a DV survivor. It’s not fair and it’s always something.
Sarah's Story 