Dear Dr. Laura:
I started listening to you in my mid-twenties when I was naïve and lost. I didn't think the values you talked about existed. When you asked women who had chosen disrespectful, abusive men why they chose them, MY answer was that I didn't believe there was anything better out there. My mother had three husbands, one of whom molested me. She's now on her fourth marriage, and I cut her out of my life last year.
In the past 15 years, I've finally changed many things about my life. I learned through listening to you that there really is a world of people who are healthy with real value systems. That helped me to find a strong and kind man to marry, and we have a two-year-old child. Thank you for showing me it IS possible to choose wisely and treat kindly.
I've had some sad and difficult feelings about letting go of my mother, but someone once told me that "everyone has mothers who show up in their life in different ways at different times." She said I'd find "mothers" in other women that I chose to let in my life. Well, you're one of my most important mothers. Thank you for helping me get to a point where I have made healthy choices and now have an amazing little family.
Mariah
