In the Blink of an Eye

That's all it takes - the blink of an eye. 

Sometimes you see the blink coming because you are the cause of it. Sometimes you know you have to tell someone something that is going to hurt them or disappoint them.  It gnaws at you until you tell them and tears you up once you do tell them. 

Sometimes you are blindsided by the blink. Something happens or something is said that you didn't see coming at all and in an instant your feelings are turned upside down. One moment everything is fine, the next . . . not so much.

Part of life I suppose. We can't prevent being blindsided. No matter how careful we try to be, it's going to happen now and then. 

And try as we may sometimes we will unwittingly be the cause. We are human and sometimes we mess up.  Sometimes we mess up really big.  Sometimes it's with the person we care most about. 

It sucks to be on either end. On the receiving end we have to decide how to react. If it has shaken our emotions that means it involves someone we care about deeply. That's tough.  When we are the cause, we have to offer our apologies, acknowledge our mistake, and then wait as the person we hurt decides what happens next. Ugh! The waiting!

Life is an adventure! Sometimes it's high mountaintops and sometimes it's Death Valley, and there's a lot of in between.  
 

Such is the mindset of Brandy at the beginning of our story.  Such is the mindset of many victims of mental and emotional abuse.  They don't want anyone to see their pain because pain and tears indicate weakness and because no one would believe them anyway.  No one would believe them because mental and emotional abuse don't leave visible scars.  The victim has no proof.  They don't even know it's abuse because at some point they began believing the things their abuser says about them.  They think they really are worthless and weak.  They believe they are a poor excuse for a wife or husband, mother or father.  They think they deserve to be treated the way they are treated.

Brandy was married to a mentally and emotionally abusive man.  She denied her anger, even to herself, during her marriage.  Years later, she is just beginning to acknowledge it and our story is about her facing her anger and refusing to let it continue controlling her. 

She begins to heal and move on with her life after falling in love with Scott.  He is not her savior though.  He is her lover and a true friend.  He shows her the beauty he sees inside her.  When she feels powerless and is tempted to quit trying he makes her dig down deep and find the strength she has buried.  Scott doesn't save Brandy.  He helps her save herself.