September 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Description:
Amanda Lee’s story is one of survival, resilience, and transformation. After enduring years of domestic abuse and a terrifying night that forced her to flee her home with her children, Amanda found the courage to rebuild her life. In this powerful conversation, she shares what it takes to break free, protect your kids, and find healing on the other side of trauma.
If you or someone you love has ever felt trapped, this episode is proof that freedom and healing are possible.
💬 Watch for the raw truth of surviving abuse — and the hope of life beyond it.
📍 Chapters
00:00 – Introduction & Amanda’s story
05:20 – The breaking point: escaping with her children
12:45 – Life after leaving: fear, stalking & survival
20:30 – Healing, writing & reclaiming her voice
28:15 – Co-parenting, growth & hope for the future
35:00 – Wisdom for survivors & resources
🔗 Resources & Links
🎙 Subscribe to the podcast: From Wounds to Wisdom
📚 Check my course: barbiemoreno.com/
📚 Amanda’s Book One of the Lucky Ones:
authoraelee.com/books/one-of-the-lucky-ones/
🌐 Learn more: authoraelee.com/books/
Keywords
domestic abuse survival story, Amanda Lee podcast, how to escape abuse, survivor story, breaking free from trauma, resilience after abuse, domestic violence awareness
Season 2
Unraveling the Mind: From Mental Struggles to Inner Strength.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to From Wounds to Wisdom.
I'm your host, barbie Moreno,and today's guest is Amanda Lee,
a fierce survivor advocate andvoice for those navigating life
after domestic abuse.
Amanda's story is one of terror, resilience and transformation
From the night she was forced toflee her home with her children
to rebuilding her life from theashes.
She's here to share what itreally takes to survive, heal
(00:26):
and rise stronger than ever.
This episode is raw, it'spowerful and it's a reminder
that, no matter how dark it gets, there's always a way forward
and how I kind of got startedwith my writing career is I am a
(00:49):
survivor of domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I was in an abusive marriage, for we were together
for about 10 years and you knowwhat I found after getting out
of the out of my marriage, Ifound that so many people around
me, both men and women, hadexperienced some form of abuse,
but nobody talks about it.
There's so much embarrassmentand shame.
He threatened to burn our housedown with myself and our two
small children, and I focusedmore on well, you remember how I
(01:21):
kept you safe?
Well, I'm going to do that that.
There is the pot of gold at therainbow at the end of the story
.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
This is from Wounds to Wisdom, with Barbie Moreno
Real talk, deep healing andstories that turn pain into
power.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to From Wounds toWisdom.
This is your host, barbieMoreno, and today I have the
honor of having Amanda Lee in mystudio and on the podcast.
A little summary about Amanda isthat she is a courageous
(02:03):
survivor, advocate and voice forthose navigating the aftermath
of domestic abuse.
After enduring years ofpsychological torment and
threats to her life, includingher husband's terrifying threat
to burn down their home with herchildren inside, amanda found
the strength to escape andrebuild her life from ashes.
In this powerful episode,amanda shares the raw truth of
(02:25):
what it means to survivedomestic violence, protect your
children in the face ofunimaginable fear and reclaim
your voice after being silenced.
Her story is one of pain,fierce resilience and unwavering
determination to heal, not justfor herself, but for her family
and others who feel trapped inthe shadows.
Today, amanda is using herstory to raise awareness, break
(02:48):
cycles of silence and empowerothers to recognize the signs of
abuse and believe in thepossibility of life beyond
survival.
This conversation is atestament to the human spirit's
ability to rise even from thedeepest wounds.
Welcome, amanda.
Thank you for having me Lovedtalking with you before our
podcast and just learning alittle bit about you.
(03:11):
But can you?
I mean I summarized right, butwe can't summarize, thank you,
but we can't summarize thatexperience.
I mean, that is something Ican't even imagine going through
.
So just give us like, give usyour story, tell us what
happened, and then we'll go,we'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, sounds great.
Thank you again for having me.
So my story and how I kind ofgot started with my writing
career is I am a survivor ofdomestic violence.
I was in an abusive marriagefor we were together for about
10 years and you know what Ifound after getting out of the
(03:50):
out of my marriage, which I'llget to in a minute.
I found that so many peoplearound me, both men and women,
had experienced some form ofabuse, but nobody talks about it
.
There's so much embarrassmentand shame and I found, through
using my voice, that there arepeople that have heard my story
or picked up my book and it'sgiven them courage to see
(04:13):
themselves in my story and toleave and to know that at the
end of the day, they're going tobe okay.
My story I my hand was forcedone night on August 3rd 2019 at
8 59 PM.
My then husband and I werefighting and he Cliff Notes
version.
It was a long fight, but hethreatened to burn our house
(04:36):
down with myself and our twosmall children we had a five and
a three-year-old at the timeand went as far as got a gas can
and a lighter, and I had topeel my children out of their
beds with, you know, theirlittle lovey stuffies that they
had at the time, and we fled tomy neighbor's house, who
happened to be a police officer.
Police got involved.
I spent half my life for sixmonths at the courthouse because
(04:58):
there was criminal hearings andI thought that that would be
like the worst night of my life.
That would, that would be it.
That would, and what no onetalks about, along with just the
subject, is that the scariesttime for a domestic violence
survivor is immediately afteryou leave, because then your
abuser doesn't have that controlover you.
(05:19):
So I just experienced this hugetraumatic event and now I have
somebody stalking me.
He convinced our neighbors atthe time to give him access to
our camera so he could watch mecoming and going.
Yeah, and you know through itall, as anyone who is a parent
will understand, your child,your children, just went through
(05:40):
a traumatic event.
Your focus is on them.
You want to make sure they'reokay.
I threw my kids in therapy.
I got them.
I knew I couldn't handle a dog,so we got two cats, which I
instantly regretted, and but you?
know, I'm stuck with them forthe next like 20 years and you
know you do everything and youkind of neglect yourselves and
in neglecting myself Ieventually hit a breaking point
(06:03):
and realized I needed to getmyself help and I did all the
things and one of the thingsthat really helped me that I
thought I would just be awful atwas writing.
It was my creative output andyou know that kind of gives me
full circle to my little introis that, you know, through, my
writing is where I use my voiceto try and help others who are
in similar situations.
(06:24):
So what type of writing do youdo?
So I wrote a memoir of my story.
It's called One of the LuckyOnes.
It describes how I found myselfin an abusive relationship and
trying to get out and whathappens afterwards and the power
of you know that there is thepot of gold at the rainbow at
(06:44):
the end of the story.
I've written a children's bookand that stemmed from the same
event.
You know my kids, like I said,they were five and three, so
they heard it.
They they have the trauma stillof me running into their rooms
and having to flee our house andI just wanted something that
was comforting to them for achild that had been through
trauma.
(07:05):
I didn't know what I waslooking for, but I couldn't find
it, and so I wrote a children'sstory, and it just is about a
saying that I said over and overagain to my son while we were
going through it.
And then I started a fictionseries that's loosely based on a
domestic violence detectivethat I worked with, and she was
(07:27):
female and had experienceddomestic violence herself.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I mean, I think that that's amazing, because so many
times people and I know youwrote a book for adults as well-
but, they don't focus onexplaining it to the children
and it's very, very hard.
How do you explain that to yourchildren?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I mean, I didn't ever address, like you know well,
why did he do this?
Why did he say these things?
I mean, I was very I don't knowand I don't know what what made
him snap or what.
What that conscious of was thatit was okay to do the things he
was doing.
And I focused more on well, youremember how I kept you safe.
(08:05):
Well, I'm going to do thethings he was doing.
And I focused more on, well,you remember how I kept you safe
.
Well, I'm going to do that.
And I tried to, especially withmy son, because my daughter is
very vocal.
She told everybody that her dadhad gone to jail and drank warm
milk and had to go to herneighbor's house and they ate
goldfish.
But my son like reallyinternalized it.
So I tried to be like okay,what do you think, what do you
think you need?
And as a five-year-old you,sometimes it was like I just
need a hug or can I stay up alittle later.
(08:27):
I'm like no, you're like youcan't milk it can I sleep in
your room tonight?
okay, um, but one of the mostpoignant ones was he asked for a
fire extinguisher.
He was like can I have one inmy room?
Wow, and I'm like, okay, andI'm like you want to tell me why
?
He's like, just in case.
So I found a little toy fireextinguisher.
(08:48):
You know, at the time he had noidea if it was real or not and
we kept it in his room.
I am fortunate that one of myvery dear friends, her husband,
is a firefighter at one of thelocal fire stations and he
offered to give my kids a tour.
And they did a tour.
They went on the fire truck andhe talked to them.
He was like this is the route Iwould take if I had to come to
your house.
Look, I would be at your housewithin five minutes, so don't
(09:10):
you worry, do you?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
know the history behind your ex's, like childhood
or life, that might have, youknow, triggered some of these
very explosive episodes.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah well, he, after everything happened, was
diagnosed with bipolar disorder,so that definitely contributed
to the mood elevations that Iexperienced through our marriage
.
But it's a well known fact inthe family that his father has
anger issues.
How abusive he's been to hismother I don't know, but I did
(09:44):
witness a lot of like himputting her down or him trying
to tell her what to do.
I'm sorry go ahead.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I was going to say do you know if any of that anger
was taken out on your ex?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It was as a child, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Because I know this is controversial, but bipolar,
you know, they often will saythere's two different opinions
on it.
One opinion is that it's amedical thing, that you know
that the brain has it'sdifferent ways of dealing with
things and that you know youneed medication so that it can
balance all of that serotonin,dopamine, all of those different
things, right.
And then the other view on itis that it's also environmental.
(10:21):
So people create their mind,creates that whole manic and
then depressive, manic anddepressant so that they can
survive, right.
And so you'll find most bipolarpeople have lived in some sort
of an abusive past becausethat's how their brain survived.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, and I I would agree with that, because I think
some of the things thathappened to him as his in his
childhood created a version ofhim that had very, very low
self-esteem, and a lot of theabuse stemmed from trying to
destroy my self-esteem as a formof control, so that I wouldn't
leave.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
yeah, what have you done that in turn?
And people always say don'tblame the victim.
I never believe in blaming thevictim, but I believe that we
all choose people for a reason,and so have you done that
internal work to like why?
Why would I pick this person?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, I have.
And I think I think there's acouple of reasons and the main
one and it's hard to admit thatI was desperate to get married
and have children.
I had been a bridesmaid ninetimes by the time I met my
ex-husband and I was done.
I was like, okay, like I'mready, I want to get married.
(11:28):
And you know, I think the nextserious boyfriend that I had, no
matter who it was, I was goingto be like, all right, this is
it, I'm marrying this person.
And you know, to admit that Ihad that, that that desperate
feeling is, is very hard.
I pride myself on, you know,being independent and
intelligent and I'm fromPhiladelphia, like I don't take
(11:48):
anybody's crap.
And then I found myself in thisabusive situation that I don't
know that I fully understoodwhat was happening immediately.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I think also like that's very normal for women.
It's like men don't like havethis, like, oh, if I don't like
get married and have children bya certain period of time, like
you know, eggs aren't going tobe good and that like there's
last until they die, right,there's kids at 80.
Yeah, whereas women like one.
There's like a stigma if you'renot married by a certain age,
right, and then it'sinternalized as, like you know,
(12:20):
I'm.
What's wrong with me, yeah,yeah, why am I a bridesmaid nine
times whenever the bride.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I mean I had a series of serious boyfriends
like years, like dated them foryears and you know, and I did
feel like the stigma of okay,well, amanda's amazing, like why
aren't you married?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, Don't okay.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well, amanda's amazing like why aren't you
married?
Yeah, don't you want to havekids?
It's like, yeah, I desperatelywant to have children.
Right, and sometimes we justpick whoever it is, we settle,
yeah, I did.
I, I 100% was settling.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Idid love him, yeah.
But it also was the moment inmy life where I decided like I'm
done, I want to get marriedyeah, definitely, and so is he
currently in prison.
No, he's not.
Yeah, no, he didn't getanything.
He pled no contest.
(13:06):
And they told me that becausethe threats were not like there
was no concrete evidence, it washe said, she said and he was
denying it, and because I hadnever called before, that they
really didn't have a lot to goon.
He, he did throw a glass ofwater on me, which was
considered assault.
So he did.
(13:28):
I think there was something onhis record for seven years and
then he can get it removed.
But that was it.
And I remember I just I remembersitting in the courtroom before
and meeting with the districtattorney and the detective that
responded that night and myattorney and they told me this
and the guy, the districtattorney, said it so fast.
(13:50):
He's like all right, so anyquestions, but we'll give you a
protective order.
I'm like, let me get thisstraight, because I was scared
because I never called before.
You're going to give me a pieceof paper Like that's, that's it
to protect myself.
And he was like well, thisreally is the best scenario
because that way you can getchild support.
I'm like, I don't care about themoney right now, I care about
my safety.
I'm scared and you know I Idon't ever like to disparage the
(14:14):
police because what they didfor me that that night in August
, like I, I will be eternallygrateful.
But I called them multipletimes after the fact about the
stalking, about the cameras, andI got nowhere.
I even got a police officer onthe phone one time.
He refused to come to the house.
I guess it was a waste of histime and he was like well, if
you ever feel scared like, youneed to have a safe person to
(14:36):
call.
That way you can have a safeword so that they know if
something's wrong they can callus.
I'm like let me get thisstraight you you're concerned
enough to tell me to have a safeword with someone that is close
to me, but not concerned enoughto come out and check.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
That doesn't make sense and through your talking
to people and telling your story, have you found that it's
common, that the reason whywomen don't report domestic
violence is because it's almostalways that he said, she said,
even when there's physicalwounds, right, he can say oh,
she tripped, she fell, she blah,blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, sometimes it's very hardto prove unless you have video
(15:15):
footage of it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, yeah, and you know.
Then there's the fear.
Okay, so it's, he said.
She said he's gonna get off.
What's he gonna do to mebecause I just called the cops?
The retaliation, yeah yeah andthe protective order sounds
great, but unless he's willingto follow it like what's it
gonna do?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
well, and when you have somebody who already
violates those boundaries, theydon't care about a protective
order, like they're like again,they've already learned.
It's a.
He said.
She said thing right.
So even if there's a protectiveorder, it's like okay, well,
like she said I came, but youdidn't prove right.
She said I threatened her, butdo you have proof?
Yeah, exactly.
And then I think, even when youdo have proof, it's, it's very
(15:53):
hard.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I , I was amazed that they didn't.
Like it never occurred to methat someone wouldn't believe me
.
Like it never.
It just never occurred to meLike why would I make this up?
Why would I pull my smallchildren out of bed and run Like
why?
(16:14):
But?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
basically they're saying you're crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, yeah, and there were people in our lives not
many that he, that my exconvinced that it was all me and
I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I don't understand this Well, and sometimes it'll
even.
You know, we talked about thegaslighting when I first talked
to you, like yeah, sometimesthey will convince you that it's
you oh yeah, yeah, I'm apathological liar, so pardon him
.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, I'm a pathological liar and I've been
gaslighting him, you know, sincethe day we met.
That was in when we were goingthrough our custody for the
divorce, through our custody forthe divorce that was in his
psychological report.
I asked to get him tested tosee how mentally sound he was,
and we both had to talk to thepsychiatrist and and that was
that was his response.
(17:00):
Is that it was you, it was me,this was all me.
I did more damage to ourchildren than he did it's funny,
like, not funny, but ironic.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Like if you ever talk to like a serial killer, they
always blame, like the victim.
Right, well, she looked andtalked like my mom, like it's
totally her fault, like shelooked and talked like my mom
and so I have a killer.
You know, like they're justtheir brains.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
You know when they're in this space they just don't
work right no, no, he can't, andI'm sure it's some sort of
defense mechanism, like he's gotto blame me because he can't
live with his actual choices inlife.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Or doesn't even see them.
Yeah, yeah, I mean I almostguarantee you he believes
everything he's saying.
He has combined all of that.
So what is it like now?
I mean, he's not in prison.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
No, it's actually unbelievable and you're going to
be shocked, but we're actuallyreally great co-parents now,
really great co -parents now we.
When he was diagnosed withbipolar and the and the threat
of jail time, he went and dideverything he needed to do.
He went and got therapy, he sawanger management, he got on
medication.
If someone suggested it, he didit to his credit, and I did.
(18:07):
I did a lot of work too.
I think we had talked before.
I did everything Anyonesuggested.
Once I realized that I neededto get myself help and I really
wasn't okay.
I mean, I did therapy, I did.
Someone suggested energyhealing.
I was like, okay, sign me upand honestly, the energy healing
(18:28):
was one of the best things Iever did.
It really, really helped.
And, honestly, the energyhealing was one of the best
things I ever did.
It really, really helped.
I got into meditation and yogaand anyone who knows anyone from
Philadelphia that those aren'tour people, that's not how we
operate.
And you know.
We saw it was court mandated.
We saw I forget what her exacttitle was, but it was basically
(18:49):
someone to help us co-parent andthrough that we both realized
that we probably could do thisif we just kept it about the
kids.
So it's taken years but we arein a place where we can
effectively co-parent with ourchildren.
That's not to say that therearen't moments, you know, and
(19:11):
when we first did our custody itwas a gradual workup.
He had supervised visits, thenit was just a couple hours on a
Saturday, then it's worked up tonow.
He has them overnight a fewdays a week, but it it's taken.
It's taken all five and a halfyears to get us to this healthy
(19:31):
point for our children.
But so rare, it's incrediblyrare.
And you know, I'm remarried nowand the joke is always like who
would have thought he'd be themost unproblematic ex?
Like who would have thoughtthat this would be the healthier
co-parent relationship.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Like who would have thought that this would be the
healthier co-parent relationship?
Well, it's interesting because,like one, it shows one thing I
teach in like my course and whatI do is that neuroplasticity
right, so we can heal.
We can change these thingsthrough repetitive action.
You have to put the work inright, but we can.
We can heal them, which isamazing because children, their
(20:10):
brains are so like you know,they have so much plasticity in
their brains that those events,while they still happened, if
he's doing the work and you'redoing the work, it's probably
not going to carry over intotheir life, like you know, like
it may have if you guys didn'tdo all of that work it was not
easy and I mean there are timesit's still not easy and I can
(20:32):
see like the hesitation with mykids, like if something happens,
and I'm like, all right, well,I got, I'm, you know, I'm going
to, I'm going to talk to yourdad, please don't call him.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Please don't call him .
He's going to be mad, okay,well, and then I just always go
back to all right, well, he canbe mad, but I will be the one
who deals with him.
You do not need to deal withhim.
How do you?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
how did your parents respond to hearing what happened
to you?
Oh, I thought they were goingto kill him.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, I would imagine .
I mean my, my siblings too, andI.
I knew that once I told myfamily and my close friends that
there, there would be no goingback, like even if I I said no,
I wanted to work it out, I'mpretty sure they would have
locked me in the basement andbeen like, no, this is no.
So they were.
(21:15):
I mean, my parents weredevastated that this had been
happening, that I hadn't toldthem, and I had to work through
a couple, through it with my mom, because she took it very
personally.
She took it as I didn't trusther enough to tell her this was
going on.
And I'm like that's not whatthis was.
This was, if I speak it outloud, that makes it true that
(21:38):
this is actually happening.
And I mean I kind of was in likealmost like a coma for years,
just surviving.
I had two very small childrenvery close in age they're 17
months apart and I was beingabused.
So I was just in that thatmentality of I just got to get
through this, I just one day ata time.
And when I realized, when Iwoke up and realized, holy, holy
(22:01):
F, this is like I am in anabusive marriage, I didn't know
how to safely get out.
My fear had always been that ifI wasn't there, how could I
protect my kids?
My kids are so little at themoment.
How am I going to protect?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
them, and I think that that's a big thing, because
the court system generallydoesn't work and the you know
you.
Then I think this is why a lotof women don't leave.
You then have to turn yourchildren over for visitation,
because oftentimes they don'teven get, like the, the, you
know the tiered visitation likeyou got.
Yeah, you know.
(22:36):
They just literally have toturn their children over to this
person that they know iscapable of all of these things
and they can't control theenvironment anymore.
Yeah, I mean, I think thatthat's why a lot of women stay,
because at least when they'rethere they can can, they can
control something.
And then when you separate andyou don't have a control of that
(22:56):
, what happens?
That's frightening, I can'teven imagine.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I mean, I very clearly remember the first time
he had them overnight.
I don't think I slept at alland I tried really hard not to
grill the kids when they cameback, but I 100% did I like sat
them on the couch and like, tony, everything Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Is there anything that we need to talk about?
Do we need to go to therapy?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Well, what did you do at seven o'clock, and then what
happened at eight?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, yeah, and I would imagine over time that
that that kind of settled down.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
It has, and I have a very close relationship with my
two kids and if somethinghappens, I'm confident, if
anything happened that made themuncomfortable, that they would
tell me.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
You would think that, but then you didn't tell your
mom.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This is true, but I do.
I do think that they woulddream differently.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And I, I mean I would imagine as well.
It's just that one thing where,like it comes from a mother
that could you imagine yourchild keeping something like
that from you?
It'd be heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, child keeping something like that from you
would be heartbreaking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I get itand I understand why my mom had
that reaction and honestly, itlike broke my heart that that
she thought that it was aboutour relationship and me not
being able to tell her and I waslike it has nothing to do with
with you and everything to dowith.
I couldn't say it out loud.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, you just couldn't acknowledge it.
Yeah, how have you turned thatwound into wisdom today?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Well, I've learned a lot about myself in the past
five years through this, thishealing journey, and you know,
the wisdom that I bring, I hopeis, is my story and sharing my
story, or through my writing,through podcasts, interviews
like this, to help otherdomestic violence victims out
there, if not just wake up andrealize what's happening, but
(24:37):
understand that you know, no oneever regrets leaving.
No, no one ever does.
And it is better when you doleave, and I'm I mean my
co-parent relationship with myex is extraordinary.
That doesn't always happen,rarely happens, but my life,
regardless of that, is amazingnow, and I wouldn't have the
(24:57):
beautiful life I have now if Ididn't make the choice to leave
in that moment.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
One last question.
You are a teacher, correct?
I am.
Is it sixth grade?
Sixth grade, yeah.
Because of your experiences, doyou think you're now more aware
to look for the children whocould possibly be in abusive
situations?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yes, I do, and I think I'm much more empathetic
to the children who haveexperienced domestic violence in
their lives.
I mean, after COVID, there wasone year I had like five kids
who had protective orders withwith parents, and I think I've
helped my coworkers as well.
(25:37):
When they're like, oh, thisperson's acting up and they're
doing this, okay, well, like doyou know what's happening at
home, like this is how trauma isgoing to present in in children
, that's a gift, thank you, Ithink so.
I think I think I've probablyhelped a few.
What's the?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
name of your book.
It's called One of the LuckyOnes.
One of the Lucky Ones, and isit on Amazon?
If somebody wanted to read it?
Yes, and then your children'sbooks.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
My children's book is called Always, and that's also
on Amazon, and then my fictionbook series.
There's two books in the series.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
The first one is called Blue Coat, a Brookhill
novel and the second one thatjust came out in June is called
Concealment.
I love that.
Well, I hope that people youknow take the message that
you've given them and if there'sanybody in that situation or
they know somebody in thatsituation or maybe their parents
were in that situation, youknow they can take the
information that you've givenand know that there is a way out
and that you know life isbetter on the other side usually
(26:33):
.
Yeah, definitely, and I lovethe fact that you guys actually
became good co-parents, becausethat's often not the story that
we hear, and I mean you both didthe work and that's also rare.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, we did, and I would say part of it was the
fact that I am a teacher and Ihave seen hotly contested
parents who are divorced goingthrough a divorce and the
effects they have it on theirchildren and I I couldn't put my
kids through more trauma thanthey already had been through.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah, that's a testament to your strength.
Thank you Well, thank you forcoming on the show.
I look forward to peoplehearing your story and and I'm
sure you will make a differencewith this podcast, the ones that
you go on and the books thatyou've written.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
Grateful for you.
Thank you, okay, perfect, okay.
Thanks, if this story spoke toyou, let's keep the healing
(27:23):
going.
Visit barbie morenocom for myonline course awakening your
worth and healing energysessions, one-on-one coaching
and your free healing guide.
Your next step is waiting.
Welcome back to From Wounds to Wisdom.
I'm your host, barbie Moreno,and today's guest is Amanda Lee,
a fierce survivor advocate andvoice for those navigating life
after domestic abuse.
Amanda's story is one of terror, resilience and transformation
From the night she was forced toflee her home with her children
to rebuilding her life from theashes.
She's here to share what itreally takes to survive, heal
(00:26):
and rise stronger than ever.
This episode is raw, it'spowerful and it's a reminder
that, no matter how dark it gets, there's always a way forward
and how I kind of got startedwith my writing career is I am a
(00:49):
survivor of domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I was in an abusive marriage, for we were together
for about 10 years and you knowwhat I found after getting out
of the out of my marriage, Ifound that so many people around
me, both men and women, hadexperienced some form of abuse,
but nobody talks about it.
There's so much embarrassmentand shame.
He threatened to burn our housedown with myself and our two
small children, and I focusedmore on well, you remember how I
(01:21):
kept you safe?
Well, I'm going to do that that.
There is the pot of gold at therainbow at the end of the story
.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
This is from Wounds to Wisdom, with Barbie Moreno
Real talk, deep healing andstories that turn pain into
power.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to From Wounds toWisdom.
This is your host, barbieMoreno, and today I have the
honor of having Amanda Lee in mystudio and on the podcast.
A little summary about Amanda isthat she is a courageous
(02:03):
survivor, advocate and voice forthose navigating the aftermath
of domestic abuse.
After enduring years ofpsychological torment and
threats to her life, includingher husband's terrifying threat
to burn down their home with herchildren inside, amanda found
the strength to escape andrebuild her life from ashes.
In this powerful episode,amanda shares the raw truth of
(02:25):
what it means to survivedomestic violence, protect your
children in the face ofunimaginable fear and reclaim
your voice after being silenced.
Her story is one of pain,fierce resilience and unwavering
determination to heal, not justfor herself, but for her family
and others who feel trapped inthe shadows.
Today, amanda is using herstory to raise awareness, break
(02:48):
cycles of silence and empowerothers to recognize the signs of
abuse and believe in thepossibility of life beyond
survival.
This conversation is atestament to the human spirit's
ability to rise even from thedeepest wounds.
Welcome, amanda.
Thank you for having me Lovedtalking with you before our
podcast and just learning alittle bit about you.
(03:11):
But can you?
I mean I summarized right, butwe can't summarize, thank you,
but we can't summarize thatexperience.
I mean, that is something Ican't even imagine going through
.
So just give us like, give usyour story, tell us what
happened, and then we'll go,we'll go from there.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, sounds great.
Thank you again for having me.
So my story and how I kind ofgot started with my writing
career is I am a survivor ofdomestic violence.
I was in an abusive marriagefor we were together for about
10 years and you know what Ifound after getting out of the
(03:50):
out of my marriage, which I'llget to in a minute.
I found that so many peoplearound me, both men and women,
had experienced some form ofabuse, but nobody talks about it
.
There's so much embarrassmentand shame and I found, through
using my voice, that there arepeople that have heard my story
or picked up my book and it'sgiven them courage to see
(04:13):
themselves in my story and toleave and to know that at the
end of the day, they're going tobe okay.
My story I my hand was forcedone night on August 3rd 2019 at
8 59 PM.
My then husband and I werefighting and he Cliff Notes
version.
It was a long fight, but hethreatened to burn our house
(04:36):
down with myself and our twosmall children we had a five and
a three-year-old at the timeand went as far as got a gas can
and a lighter, and I had topeel my children out of their
beds with, you know, theirlittle lovey stuffies that they
had at the time, and we fled tomy neighbor's house, who
happened to be a police officer.
Police got involved.
I spent half my life for sixmonths at the courthouse because
(04:58):
there was criminal hearings andI thought that that would be
like the worst night of my life.
That would, that would be it.
That would, and what no onetalks about, along with just the
subject, is that the scariesttime for a domestic violence
survivor is immediately afteryou leave, because then your
abuser doesn't have that controlover you.
(05:19):
So I just experienced this hugetraumatic event and now I have
somebody stalking me.
He convinced our neighbors atthe time to give him access to
our camera so he could watch mecoming and going.
Yeah, and you know through itall, as anyone who is a parent
will understand, your child,your children, just went through
(05:40):
a traumatic event.
Your focus is on them.
You want to make sure they'reokay.
I threw my kids in therapy.
I got them.
I knew I couldn't handle a dog,so we got two cats, which I
instantly regretted, and but you?
know, I'm stuck with them forthe next like 20 years and you
know you do everything and youkind of neglect yourselves and
in neglecting myself Ieventually hit a breaking point
(06:03):
and realized I needed to getmyself help and I did all the
things and one of the thingsthat really helped me that I
thought I would just be awful atwas writing.
It was my creative output andyou know that kind of gives me
full circle to my little introis that, you know, through, my
writing is where I use my voiceto try and help others who are
in similar situations.
(06:24):
So what type of writing do youdo?
So I wrote a memoir of my story.
It's called One of the LuckyOnes.
It describes how I found myselfin an abusive relationship and
trying to get out and whathappens afterwards and the power
of you know that there is thepot of gold at the rainbow at
(06:44):
the end of the story.
I've written a children's bookand that stemmed from the same
event.
You know my kids, like I said,they were five and three, so
they heard it.
They they have the trauma stillof me running into their rooms
and having to flee our house andI just wanted something that
was comforting to them for achild that had been through
trauma.
(07:05):
I didn't know what I waslooking for, but I couldn't find
it, and so I wrote a children'sstory, and it just is about a
saying that I said over and overagain to my son while we were
going through it.
And then I started a fictionseries that's loosely based on a
domestic violence detectivethat I worked with, and she was
(07:27):
female and had experienceddomestic violence herself.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
I mean, I think that that's amazing, because so many
times people and I know youwrote a book for adults as well-
but, they don't focus onexplaining it to the children
and it's very, very hard.
How do you explain that to yourchildren?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I mean, I didn't ever address, like you know well,
why did he do this?
Why did he say these things?
I mean, I was very I don't knowand I don't know what what made
him snap or what.
What that conscious of was thatit was okay to do the things he
was doing.
And I focused more on well, youremember how I kept you safe.
(08:05):
Well, I'm going to do thethings he was doing.
And I focused more on, well,you remember how I kept you safe
.
Well, I'm going to do that.
And I tried to, especially withmy son, because my daughter is
very vocal.
She told everybody that her dadhad gone to jail and drank warm
milk and had to go to herneighbor's house and they ate
goldfish.
But my son like reallyinternalized it.
So I tried to be like okay,what do you think, what do you
think you need?
And as a five-year-old you,sometimes it was like I just
need a hug or can I stay up alittle later.
(08:27):
I'm like no, you're like youcan't milk it can I sleep in
your room tonight?
okay, um, but one of the mostpoignant ones was he asked for a
fire extinguisher.
He was like can I have one inmy room?
Wow, and I'm like, okay, andI'm like you want to tell me why
?
He's like, just in case.
So I found a little toy fireextinguisher.
(08:48):
You know, at the time he had noidea if it was real or not and
we kept it in his room.
I am fortunate that one of myvery dear friends, her husband,
is a firefighter at one of thelocal fire stations and he
offered to give my kids a tour.
And they did a tour.
They went on the fire truck andhe talked to them.
He was like this is the route Iwould take if I had to come to
your house.
Look, I would be at your housewithin five minutes, so don't
(09:10):
you worry, do you?
Speaker 1 (09:12):
know the history behind your ex's, like childhood
or life, that might have, youknow, triggered some of these
very explosive episodes.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah well, he, after everything happened, was
diagnosed with bipolar disorder,so that definitely contributed
to the mood elevations that Iexperienced through our marriage
.
But it's a well known fact inthe family that his father has
anger issues.
How abusive he's been to hismother I don't know, but I did
(09:44):
witness a lot of like himputting her down or him trying
to tell her what to do.
I'm sorry go ahead.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I was going to say do you know if any of that anger
was taken out on your ex?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It was as a child, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Because I know this is controversial, but bipolar,
you know, they often will saythere's two different opinions
on it.
One opinion is that it's amedical thing, that you know
that the brain has it'sdifferent ways of dealing with
things and that you know youneed medication so that it can
balance all of that serotonin,dopamine, all of those different
things, right.
And then the other view on itis that it's also environmental.
(10:21):
So people create their mind,creates that whole manic and
then depressive, manic anddepressant so that they can
survive, right.
And so you'll find most bipolarpeople have lived in some sort
of an abusive past becausethat's how their brain survived.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, and I I would agree with that, because I think
some of the things thathappened to him as his in his
childhood created a version ofhim that had very, very low
self-esteem, and a lot of theabuse stemmed from trying to
destroy my self-esteem as a formof control, so that I wouldn't
leave.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
yeah, what have you done that in turn?
And people always say don'tblame the victim.
I never believe in blaming thevictim, but I believe that we
all choose people for a reason,and so have you done that
internal work to like why?
Why would I pick this person?
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, I have.
And I think I think there's acouple of reasons and the main
one and it's hard to admit thatI was desperate to get married
and have children.
I had been a bridesmaid ninetimes by the time I met my
ex-husband and I was done.
I was like, okay, like I'mready, I want to get married.
(11:28):
And you know, I think the nextserious boyfriend that I had, no
matter who it was, I was goingto be like, all right, this is
it, I'm marrying this person.
And you know, to admit that Ihad that, that that desperate
feeling is, is very hard.
I pride myself on, you know,being independent and
intelligent and I'm fromPhiladelphia, like I don't take
(11:48):
anybody's crap.
And then I found myself in thisabusive situation that I don't
know that I fully understoodwhat was happening immediately.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
I think also like that's very normal for women.
It's like men don't like havethis, like, oh, if I don't like
get married and have children bya certain period of time, like
you know, eggs aren't going tobe good and that like there's
last until they die, right,there's kids at 80.
Yeah, whereas women like one.
There's like a stigma if you'renot married by a certain age,
right, and then it'sinternalized as, like you know,
(12:20):
I'm.
What's wrong with me, yeah,yeah, why am I a bridesmaid nine
times whenever the bride.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, I mean I had a series of serious boyfriends
like years, like dated them foryears and you know, and I did
feel like the stigma of okay,well, amanda's amazing, like why
aren't you married?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, Don't okay.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well, amanda's amazing like why aren't you
married?
Yeah, don't you want to havekids?
It's like, yeah, I desperatelywant to have children.
Right, and sometimes we justpick whoever it is, we settle,
yeah, I did.
I, I 100% was settling.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Idid love him, yeah.
But it also was the moment inmy life where I decided like I'm
done, I want to get marriedyeah, definitely, and so is he
currently in prison.
No, he's not.
Yeah, no, he didn't getanything.
He pled no contest.
(13:06):
And they told me that becausethe threats were not like there
was no concrete evidence, it washe said, she said and he was
denying it, and because I hadnever called before, that they
really didn't have a lot to goon.
He, he did throw a glass ofwater on me, which was
considered assault.
So he did.
(13:28):
I think there was something onhis record for seven years and
then he can get it removed.
But that was it.
And I remember I just I remembersitting in the courtroom before
and meeting with the districtattorney and the detective that
responded that night and myattorney and they told me this
and the guy, the districtattorney, said it so fast.
(13:50):
He's like all right, so anyquestions, but we'll give you a
protective order.
I'm like, let me get thisstraight, because I was scared
because I never called before.
You're going to give me a pieceof paper Like that's, that's it
to protect myself.
And he was like well, thisreally is the best scenario
because that way you can getchild support.
I'm like, I don't care about themoney right now, I care about
my safety.
I'm scared and you know I Idon't ever like to disparage the
(14:14):
police because what they didfor me that that night in August
, like I, I will be eternallygrateful.
But I called them multipletimes after the fact about the
stalking, about the cameras, andI got nowhere.
I even got a police officer onthe phone one time.
He refused to come to the house.
I guess it was a waste of histime and he was like well, if
you ever feel scared like, youneed to have a safe person to
(14:36):
call.
That way you can have a safeword so that they know if
something's wrong they can callus.
I'm like let me get thisstraight you you're concerned
enough to tell me to have a safeword with someone that is close
to me, but not concerned enoughto come out and check.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
That doesn't make sense and through your talking
to people and telling your story, have you found that it's
common, that the reason whywomen don't report domestic
violence is because it's almostalways that he said, she said,
even when there's physicalwounds, right, he can say oh,
she tripped, she fell, she blah,blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, sometimes it's very hardto prove unless you have video
(15:15):
footage of it.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, yeah, and you know.
Then there's the fear.
Okay, so it's, he said.
She said he's gonna get off.
What's he gonna do to mebecause I just called the cops?
The retaliation, yeah yeah andthe protective order sounds
great, but unless he's willingto follow it like what's it
gonna do?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
well, and when you have somebody who already
violates those boundaries, theydon't care about a protective
order, like they're like again,they've already learned.
It's a.
He said.
She said thing right.
So even if there's a protectiveorder, it's like okay, well,
like she said I came, but youdidn't prove right.
She said I threatened her, butdo you have proof?
Yeah, exactly.
And then I think, even when youdo have proof, it's, it's very
(15:53):
hard.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I , I was amazed that they didn't.
Like it never occurred to methat someone wouldn't believe me
.
Like it never.
It just never occurred to meLike why would I make this up?
Why would I pull my smallchildren out of bed and run Like
why?
(16:14):
But?
Speaker 1 (16:15):
basically they're saying you're crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, yeah, and there were people in our lives not
many that he, that my exconvinced that it was all me and
I'm like I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I don't understand this Well, and sometimes it'll
even.
You know, we talked about thegaslighting when I first talked
to you, like yeah, sometimesthey will convince you that it's
you oh yeah, yeah, I'm apathological liar, so pardon him
.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, I'm a pathological liar and I've been
gaslighting him, you know, sincethe day we met.
That was in when we were goingthrough our custody for the
divorce, through our custody forthe divorce that was in his
psychological report.
I asked to get him tested tosee how mentally sound he was,
and we both had to talk to thepsychiatrist and and that was
that was his response.
(17:00):
Is that it was you, it was me,this was all me.
I did more damage to ourchildren than he did it's funny,
like, not funny, but ironic.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Like if you ever talk to like a serial killer, they
always blame, like the victim.
Right, well, she looked andtalked like my mom, like it's
totally her fault, like shelooked and talked like my mom
and so I have a killer.
You know, like they're justtheir brains.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
You know when they're in this space they just don't
work right no, no, he can't, andI'm sure it's some sort of
defense mechanism, like he's gotto blame me because he can't
live with his actual choices inlife.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Or doesn't even see them.
Yeah, yeah, I mean I almostguarantee you he believes
everything he's saying.
He has combined all of that.
So what is it like now?
I mean, he's not in prison.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
No, it's actually unbelievable and you're going to
be shocked, but we're actuallyreally great co-parents now,
really great co -parents now we.
When he was diagnosed withbipolar and the and the threat
of jail time, he went and dideverything he needed to do.
He went and got therapy, he sawanger management, he got on
medication.
If someone suggested it, he didit to his credit, and I did.
(18:07):
I did a lot of work too.
I think we had talked before.
I did everything Anyonesuggested.
Once I realized that I neededto get myself help and I really
wasn't okay.
I mean, I did therapy, I did.
Someone suggested energyhealing.
I was like, okay, sign me upand honestly, the energy healing
(18:28):
was one of the best things Iever did.
It really, really helped.
And, honestly, the energyhealing was one of the best
things I ever did.
It really, really helped.
I got into meditation and yogaand anyone who knows anyone from
Philadelphia that those aren'tour people, that's not how we
operate.
And you know.
We saw it was court mandated.
We saw I forget what her exacttitle was, but it was basically
(18:49):
someone to help us co-parent andthrough that we both realized
that we probably could do thisif we just kept it about the
kids.
So it's taken years but we arein a place where we can
effectively co-parent with ourchildren.
That's not to say that therearen't moments, you know, and
(19:11):
when we first did our custody itwas a gradual workup.
He had supervised visits, thenit was just a couple hours on a
Saturday, then it's worked up tonow.
He has them overnight a fewdays a week, but it it's taken.
It's taken all five and a halfyears to get us to this healthy
(19:31):
point for our children.
But so rare, it's incrediblyrare.
And you know, I'm remarried nowand the joke is always like who
would have thought he'd be themost unproblematic ex?
Like who would have thoughtthat this would be the healthier
co-parent relationship.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Like who would have thought that this would be the
healthier co-parent relationship?
Well, it's interesting because,like one, it shows one thing I
teach in like my course and whatI do is that neuroplasticity
right, so we can heal.
We can change these thingsthrough repetitive action.
You have to put the work inright, but we can.
We can heal them, which isamazing because children, their
(20:10):
brains are so like you know,they have so much plasticity in
their brains that those events,while they still happened, if
he's doing the work and you'redoing the work, it's probably
not going to carry over intotheir life, like you know, like
it may have if you guys didn'tdo all of that work it was not
easy and I mean there are timesit's still not easy and I can
(20:32):
see like the hesitation with mykids, like if something happens,
and I'm like, all right, well,I got, I'm, you know, I'm going
to, I'm going to talk to yourdad, please don't call him.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Please don't call him .
He's going to be mad, okay,well, and then I just always go
back to all right, well, he canbe mad, but I will be the one
who deals with him.
You do not need to deal withhim.
How do you?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
how did your parents respond to hearing what happened
to you?
Oh, I thought they were goingto kill him.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, I would imagine .
I mean my, my siblings too, andI.
I knew that once I told myfamily and my close friends that
there, there would be no goingback, like even if I I said no,
I wanted to work it out, I'mpretty sure they would have
locked me in the basement andbeen like, no, this is no.
So they were.
(21:15):
I mean, my parents weredevastated that this had been
happening, that I hadn't toldthem, and I had to work through
a couple, through it with my mom, because she took it very
personally.
She took it as I didn't trusther enough to tell her this was
going on.
And I'm like that's not whatthis was.
This was, if I speak it outloud, that makes it true that
(21:38):
this is actually happening.
And I mean I kind of was in likealmost like a coma for years,
just surviving.
I had two very small childrenvery close in age they're 17
months apart and I was beingabused.
So I was just in that thatmentality of I just got to get
through this, I just one day ata time.
And when I realized, when Iwoke up and realized, holy, holy
(22:01):
F, this is like I am in anabusive marriage, I didn't know
how to safely get out.
My fear had always been that ifI wasn't there, how could I
protect my kids?
My kids are so little at themoment.
How am I going to protect?
Speaker 1 (22:16):
them, and I think that that's a big thing, because
the court system generallydoesn't work and the you know
you.
Then I think this is why a lotof women don't leave.
You then have to turn yourchildren over for visitation,
because oftentimes they don'teven get, like the, the, you
know the tiered visitation likeyou got.
Yeah, you know.
(22:36):
They just literally have toturn their children over to this
person that they know iscapable of all of these things
and they can't control theenvironment anymore.
Yeah, I mean, I think thatthat's why a lot of women stay,
because at least when they'rethere they can can, they can
control something.
And then when you separate andyou don't have a control of that
(22:56):
, what happens?
That's frightening, I can'teven imagine.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, I mean, I very clearly remember the first time
he had them overnight.
I don't think I slept at alland I tried really hard not to
grill the kids when they cameback, but I 100% did I like sat
them on the couch and like, tony, everything Right yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Is there anything that we need to talk about?
Do we need to go to therapy?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Well, what did you do at seven o'clock, and then what
happened at eight?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Yeah, yeah, and I would imagine over time that
that that kind of settled down.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
It has, and I have a very close relationship with my
two kids and if somethinghappens, I'm confident, if
anything happened that made themuncomfortable, that they would
tell me.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
You would think that, but then you didn't tell your
mom.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This is true, but I do.
I do think that they woulddream differently.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And I, I mean I would imagine as well.
It's just that one thing where,like it comes from a mother
that could you imagine yourchild keeping something like
that from you?
It'd be heartbreaking.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, child keeping something like that from you
would be heartbreaking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I get itand I understand why my mom had
that reaction and honestly, itlike broke my heart that that
she thought that it was aboutour relationship and me not
being able to tell her and I waslike it has nothing to do with
with you and everything to dowith.
I couldn't say it out loud.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, you just couldn't acknowledge it.
Yeah, how have you turned thatwound into wisdom today?
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Well, I've learned a lot about myself in the past
five years through this, thishealing journey, and you know,
the wisdom that I bring, I hopeis, is my story and sharing my
story, or through my writing,through podcasts, interviews
like this, to help otherdomestic violence victims out
there, if not just wake up andrealize what's happening, but
(24:37):
understand that you know, no oneever regrets leaving.
No, no one ever does.
And it is better when you doleave, and I'm I mean my
co-parent relationship with myex is extraordinary.
That doesn't always happen,rarely happens, but my life,
regardless of that, is amazingnow, and I wouldn't have the
(24:57):
beautiful life I have now if Ididn't make the choice to leave
in that moment.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
One last question.
You are a teacher, correct?
I am.
Is it sixth grade?
Sixth grade, yeah.
Because of your experiences, doyou think you're now more aware
to look for the children whocould possibly be in abusive
situations?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yes, I do, and I think I'm much more empathetic
to the children who haveexperienced domestic violence in
their lives.
I mean, after COVID, there wasone year I had like five kids
who had protective orders withwith parents, and I think I've
helped my coworkers as well.
(25:37):
When they're like, oh, thisperson's acting up and they're
doing this, okay, well, like doyou know what's happening at
home, like this is how trauma isgoing to present in in children
, that's a gift, thank you, Ithink so.
I think I think I've probablyhelped a few.
What's the?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
name of your book.
It's called One of the LuckyOnes.
One of the Lucky Ones, and isit on Amazon?
If somebody wanted to read it?
Yes, and then your children'sbooks.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
My children's book is called Always, and that's also
on Amazon, and then my fictionbook series.
There's two books in the series.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
The first one is called Blue Coat, a Brookhill
novel and the second one thatjust came out in June is called
Concealment.
I love that.
Well, I hope that people youknow take the message that
you've given them and if there'sanybody in that situation or
they know somebody in thatsituation or maybe their parents
were in that situation, youknow they can take the
information that you've givenand know that there is a way out
and that you know life isbetter on the other side usually
(26:33):
.
Yeah, definitely, and I lovethe fact that you guys actually
became good co-parents, becausethat's often not the story that
we hear, and I mean you both didthe work and that's also rare.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yeah, we did, and I would say part of it was the
fact that I am a teacher and Ihave seen hotly contested
parents who are divorced goingthrough a divorce and the
effects they have it on theirchildren and I I couldn't put my
kids through more trauma thanthey already had been through.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Yeah, that's a testament to your strength.
Thank you Well, thank you forcoming on the show.
I look forward to peoplehearing your story and and I'm
sure you will make a differencewith this podcast, the ones that
you go on and the books thatyou've written.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
Grateful for you.
Thank you, okay, perfect, okay.
Thanks, if this story spoke toyou, let's keep the healing
(27:23):
going.
Visit barbie morenocom for myonline course awakening your
worth and healing energysessions, one-on-one coaching
and your free healing guide.
Your next step is waiting.
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