not meeting their responsibilities to Shane, Maggie, Memphis, and Kayden.

The fear in her face, oh that is so real to me. You just don't know how far he's going to go. You just have to hope he stops before he kills you or maims you. I just want to say, "Grab your kid and run away!!! And don't come back!!!"

who resents a mother's love for her kids.

That's what his choking his girlfriend was all about: Shane's infantile jealousy that the mother of two young children spends more time on them than on his sorry ass.

How do we grow so many abusive losers in this country? Really...I want to know. What makes some American men so fucking self-absorbed and hateful that they are competing with three-year-olds like it's a goddamned popularity contest?

I hope Shane ends up rotting in prison. He is a Class A LOSER.

I wish every man like him would be put away for life. They do nothing but spread pain and chaos.

No woman deserves that treatment - if only more women understood that and if only our society demanded better from men, little Memphis wouldn't have had to see her mom get choked for "love."

..that should be your first warning to stay as far away as possible, even more so if you have small children... not to mention the part where he has spent much of his adult life in prison.

This guy is already in the "prison mentality" state of mind. He feels more at home inside the system than he does in the outside world. Being a former member of both a very notorioud white supremacy group and a 1%er outlaw MC gang, I've seen/known too many with this mindset. I just recently, within the past month, rescued my youngest daughter from the grips of one just like the guy in this story. I can say with certainty, he will *never* come near my daughter again....

To ALL you women out there, and especially to single mothers, don't *ever* get involved with someone like this unless you are prepared to take a ride through hell and back.... beware of the ones who say they're "going to change" or they're "trying to change". Unless you've known them for a long time, you won't know if they have changed or not.

Some can, and will, change. I am living proof of that. It took me losing the love of my life, and my oldest daughter, and that was just the first step to the long fall to rock bottom. This was in 1989. I wandered aimlessly through life and a few more failed relationships, blaming everything, and everyone, before I finally thought "Hey, maybe the problem is *ME*." I'm sure almost everyone is familiar with the term "I went up on the mountain"? Well, I did.. literally. I spent almost a month out in the woods, looking back on my life, seeing when, where and how things went wrong. I realized it WAS *me*, and what I needed to do to change. I realized I was empty inside, because the better part of me was gone. I realized the failed relationships were mostly due to the fact that they weren't *her*, The one I *knew* in my heart that I was *meant* to be with. My last relationship ended with me being a single father of a 3 & 4 year old son & daughter. I knew I had to change for them... and for myself. This was in 1996. I had given up a 13 year love affair with cocaine in 1992, when I found out I was going to be a father, with my youngest daughter. I took my last drink on Oct 1st 1996, right after becoming a single father. I knew my kids needed me more than I needed a drink.

During this transformation, I somehow just knew I would one day find my ex again, and I wanted to show her that I had become the man I always should have been. I *needed* to apologize to her for how I had treated her, and I *needed* her forgiveness. I had already made peace with everyone else, she was the last one left. I took to calling myself "The Unforgiven".

Flash forward 13 years... Fall of 2009. My cousin and I were fishing, when he told me "when you get home, you really *need* to look on my wife's Facebook". I did so when I got home, and I thought my heart was going to explode! There, on here friends list, was my ex, who I hadn't seen in 20 years! I clicked on her profile, then the "send message" button. It took me a little bit to regain my composure, but I wrote her a letter, telling her how much I needed to apologize to her, and how *ashamed* I was about the way I had treated her, and that I wouldn't blame her if she deleted the letter without reading it, or if she didn't respond. Then the words just started pouring out of me, what I had been through, how I had changed my life, how raising two kids alone taught me more about myself than I ever knew I had in me. To my surprise, she replied back within an hour. She sent me her number, and told me to call her when she got off work. We talked all night, until it was time for her to get ready for work the next morning. We talked for months and months. The next thing I know, it's May 2010, two weeks before my youngest daughters graduation, and she tells me "I'm coming up to be with you at her graduation"! She lived in South Ga, I live in East Tn. To make a longer story short, since I've babbled and poured my heart out enough here.... she is with me right now, and our daughter bought a house 3 doors up from me. During our talks, before she came up the first time, I asked her if she thought I was changed for real, or just blowing smoke... her answer?? "If I didn't think it was real, I wouldn't have talked to you as long as I did", and when she came up and spent that first week, I asked again. Her answer? "I damned sure wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was real".

I will say this.. the first time I woke up with her in my arms again, I felt like I had just woke up from a 20 year nightmare, and felt like I was "home, where I belonged" and I was at peace with the world. We are inseperable now, and life couldn't be better.

Peace,

Ghost

Love the happy ending! I wish you and yours much happiness!

Julie