Rise

This is a personal story of one woman's journey with disability, grief, and abuse and then the eventual understanding of herself as spiritual being with the clear knowledge that we are far more powerful than we could ever imagine and the absolute "knowing" that even in the very darkest of times, we are never truly alone. Sallyann was born with severe vision limitations When she is 3, her parents adopt a baby boy, who the family very quickly discovers, is mentally unstable, becoming more and more violent with each passing year. Sallyann's brother, Terry, is expelled from kindergarten at the age of 4 and suspended from primary school at the age of 6. Terry first comes to the attention of the authorities at the age of 7, when in one week, he tries to burn down a house with 6 people asleep inside and either robs or vandalises most of the shops in the local community. He is then sent to a boarding school for boys with behaviour issues. As Terry becomes older and more violent, the severity of his crimes escalates, and he regularly escapes from the institutions in which he is housed, terrorising his family and his community. Terry becomes a well-known and feared criminal, whilst Sallyann and her family live through the terror and uncertainty of this escalating violence which ultimately culminates in murder. Sallyann then goes on to marry a man who is emotionally and psychologically abusive. She unwittingly becomes trapped in a web of deceit, abuse, manipulation, and control, which ramps up considerably after the birth of her daughter, Vanessa. Sallyann takes us into the depths of her excruciating pain following the tragic death of her son, Lindsey. Through frank and revealing story telling the author shares her journey of becoming a victim of an abusive marriage. She shares her fears, her griefs and ultimately her triumph, when she finally leaves the past behind, claims her life back, and moves forward as a free independent woman with a new zest for life. This is a soul's journey.