Stolen Childhood

Yesterday I felt so free.
Today I’m not the same.
Life used to be so sunny
and bright before you came

You took away a piece of me.
You trespassed on my heart.
I trusted you. You didn’t care.
My world just came apart.

Doubts and shadows cloud my thoughts.
Fear is my new friend.
A part of me is shattered.
How can it ever mend?

If only you could give it back,
what you took away for free.
Life is different now because
you stole childhood from me.

I’d like to run away somewhere,
a place where you can’t be,
where I can be myself again,
a happy child, carefree.

There’s only one way to be safe.
I know what I must do.
I’ll stand up for myself today.
I’ll tell them about you.

I hope that they’ll believe me.
I really think they will.
They’ve always been there for me.
I’m sure they’ll love me still.

I told them all about you.
They say I’m not to blame.
They’re sorry that it happened.
Alone, you wear the shame.

It’s my body and my life.
I always have a choice.
They listened to me and believed.
I have found my voice.

I know I will get better
though it may take some time.
There are kind people all around
to help me on this climb.

Healing isn’t easy
but I trust in God above.
I know that He is there for me
and I can feel His love.


Brandilyn and I have happy news about our book. Some Secrets Hurt will be officially released Sept 16th. We met recently with Shadow Mountain and were introduced to a wonderful group of people who are going to make our dream come true. We have a team of talented people working for us. We will soon have a website and business cards. The web address is http://www.somesecretshurt.com/. I will tell you when the website is launched. In addition we each have a personal email address for questions and comments about the book. Mine is already functional: lindagarner@somesecretshurt.com . Feel free to test it. I would love to hear from you. Brandilyn@somesecretshurt.com will soon be functional.

We are busily filling out our Author questionnaires and wondering who we can ask for endorsements. It sounds so official. I am doing my homework about stats. Brandilyn is putting the final touches on her artwork. May I tell you how beautiful the artwork is? It is just stunning and full of emotion. I feel so blessed that Brandilyn and I connected. Though Brandilyn and I are two people with different thoughts and ideas, in the book we come together as one voice. We hope that our voice will help children everywhere to find their voice.

We could use help with stats and endorsements. I find that statistics vary widely and are difficult to source. If anyone has ideas about where to find reliable stats, please email me with your thoughts, or you can post them here. Shadow Mountain would like ideas about professionals who might be willing to preview our book and comment for publication. If you have someone to suggest, again please email me or post those ideas here in the comments.

The professionals at Shadow Mountain are so kind and positive that we are thrilled to be working with them. Chris Schoebinger asked us if we had presented our book publicly yet. Brandilyn and I were both surprised at his suggestion that we could do this. We would love to share our book and our ideas with you. If you would like us to do a presentation for your women’s group or other organization, let us know. You know how to contact us. lindagarner@somesecretshurt.com

Stolen childhood is everyone’s concern. We are a community of caring adults. Let’s put aside our differences and stand together. Isn't it time that we all stand up for kids?

Linda Garner