Signing off and a Reason for Being

Hi Blogosphere,

You may have heard the news from another avenue – but I am moving on from WCYR at the end of the week.  It’s with mixed emotions of course, but in truth – it is time.  I’ll still be involved in the Centre and a supporter of the work done here. But it’s unlikely that you’ll hear my voice here again so I thought it would be appropriate to sign off here officially. I wouldn’t want you to be shocked by a new voice here someday soon.

I didn’t know what I would say or how I would say it, but I should have known my love of the blog world would come to my rescue and give the material I needed.  Let me explain.

I follow all kinds of blogs, personal and professional and one of the blogs that hybrids both of those categories is Penelope Trunk.  Penelope writes an employment advice blog – her insight has proven invaluable to me in both categories and she writes in a way that gives her readers unique insight into her life while somehow always tying it back to job searching.  She’s brilliant really.

A couple of weeks ago I was catching up on some posts that have been sitting in my Google Reader queue and there were about 6 unread posts for Penelope. I scanned through them, marked all as read which cleared them from my list and thought nothing of it. The universe had other plans and apparently really wanted me to attend to those posts and so I found myself staring at this article from Penelope explaining how she wished her top rated post on her blog was not about domestic violence.

I was confused.  I went back into the blog to see what I had missed and found that one of those posts I had “marked as read” explained that Penelope had recently been a victim of domestic violence, blogged about it and was now struggling with her decision to stay.  And I realized what I would talk about in my final WCYR blog post.

I have lived a privileged life. I am very aware of that privilege and of how lucky I am to have had the life I have. I’m also aware of how quickly it can be taken from me. I have met women over the last 2.5 years that have said countless times - “I didn’t think my life would be this way.”  I have also met women who have never truly known what a safe and healthy relationship looks like.  At WCYR we see the whole spectrum, and in my role at WCYR I have had the privilege of meeting and working with a broad range on that spectrum.  And as I’m leaving I find myself reflecting on Penelope, women like her and not just my ability to help, but WCYR in general.

It’s for women like Penelope that WCYR exists. And it is for women like her that I feel so grateful to have played any kind of role at WCYR these last 2.5 years.  Penelope is a mom of 2 boys, twice married, unspeakably abused throughout her childhood and is left struggling with the repercussions of how to exist with all of that pain in her experience.  If you read the articles I’ve linked to (and I highly recommend it) you’ll find that a couple of the choices she’s struggling with are for her children (they love her husband – their Step-dad) and for herself (she feels she will never trust marriage again if she cannot make a second one work).  This is the reality of so many of the women that come to WCYR.

WCYR doesn’t require that a woman leave her spouse.  We don’t ask a woman to navigate our programs in one specific way, or to ignore her own instincts.  And when we a woman like Penelope comes into the Centre as much as we may just want to shout “You deserve so much more! You have such potential. You are so strong.”  we don’t shout.  Instead, we encourage and we sit with women, individually or in a group, while they work through the choices that are before them.  And the most we can hope for is at the end of the day we have helped that woman make good choices.

I hope that Penelope is able to create a safe space for her and her children.  I hope that she is able to find a safe, healthy and happy relationship whether that is with her current partner or with another.  But most of all, I hope that Penelope has a place like WCYR to go to for support while she makes those choices.

Thank you readers for following along with this blog and supporting WCYR in your presence, time, talent and treasure.

It has truly been my privilege to be a part of it.

Until we meet again,

Meaghan

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