(((((( fins !! Thanks so much! )))))

My friend here at work just helped me see into this whole thing and I wanted to share incase it could help anyone else...

1) I was shocked as an adult and did not understand why it shocked me. Realized that the Silent One child part of me felt that the guilt over the sex abuse was the worst part of the event. She was "mentioning" the physical threat from my dad as a "side item" to her point of view. As an adult, I reacted the same way any parent would if someone threatened their child - ANGRY AS HELL !! And rightfully so!

The analogy is the same as a child who wrecks a bike. They tell the parent about the bike being smashed and the parent deals with that part. A day later the kid complains of a headache and the parent only at that time finds out the kid hit his head. To the kid, that was not the big issue but to the parent they don't understand why the kid didn't tell them about hitting their head when they told about the bike.

2) My friend said kids think that way - they do not realize the impact of death and so for me at that age - it would have been a side item rather than the main item. But as an adult who knows that my father is/was capable of murder, I indeed do see and feel the severity of that threat.