MOTHER'S DAY CONTEST: 1st Place Winning Entry by Virginia Tanner

My Mom taught me to be a survivor. Years ago I married a man I believed to be "the one". After two years of being brutally beaten he finally went the extra mile and almost killed me in front of my child. For months I cried and fell deeper and deeper into depression. I drank to kill the pain every day. I was not able to be there for my child or myself.

I will never forget my mother grabbing me by my shoulders and practically shaking me out of my skin. There I was 22 years old and crying to my Mommy. I told her I wanted to die and that my child didn't deserve me as a mother.

She wrapped her arms around me and I will never forget her words. She told me to stop crying and stand up. Confused I did as I was told. She grabbed my hand and told me about the moment she stopped crying over the past. She told me it is my choice to remain a victim. I was so hurt by that statement that I yelled at her. "How can you say that?" I screamed, "It isn't my fault what he did to me!"

Her next statement changed my life. She looked me straight in the eye and said, "You did not choose to be beaten, stabbed, or choked by that man, but right now you are choosing to remain his victim. Stand up and be a survivor. Don't let him own you this way. Take his power away."

Never have words struck me so hard. I have lived my life by those words every day since then.

I no longer allow anyone to walk over me. I have been hurt plenty since my ex, but no one has had enough power to break me as I was back then. I am there for my children always. Thanks to my Mom I am not a victim anymore, I'm a survivor.

(Top Photo: Siam Camo - Thai Stylee Skirt with Thai at Waist $125)