Karen, your story resonates with mine; the silence, the straight Fs... and then made to feel that as a human being, I was a total waste. My mother gave me up to the rest of the family. Everyone looked down on me, not with pity, not with empathy, but with disgust. And who was at fault, truly? Everyone's GRANDMOTHER!

"You say anything and it will be worse!" as she thumped her Bible. "Keep your mouth shut! Girls don't cry! If you think this hurts, wait till you have a baby!" Then "Don't say anything! No one will believe you, anyway!" That last threat has stayed with me all my life. I don't even say I have an ingrown toenail because no one will believe me, including the doctor. I just keep my mouth shut... and suffer silently... like I always did.

I understand!