Wow, QuietGrace, you really went through a nightmare! You're an amazing person, coming through it as strong and loving as you are. Some of the most positive, loving people I've ever known have been through the very worst that humanity has to offer. You're all my heroes!

My dad got 8 years without parole for looking at photos. Seriously. He did things to his daughters that weren't part of the case, but the prosecutor's office still put them in their press release! (Against our wishes.) Those things were minor compared to what was done to me by an unknown rapist when I was five. THAT guy almost killed me, and messed up my reproductive organs.

My dad knew his compulsions were wrong, and he fought against them his whole life. For that, I thank him. I wish the courts could give him some kind of credit for it. Instead, they gave him the sentence that belongs to my rapist.

BTW, on my last post, I showed my mood as angry. I wasn't angry at you. I was angry at the prison system. My dad is very sick, but they won't take him to the hospital unless they think he's going to die THAT DAY. And they won't give him enough blankets to stop him shaking from the cold.