Beginning

It's taken me more than a year to be able to even attempt to write down my thoughts, and I barely know where to begin.

I was a victim, I know that now. A victim of a man with secrets who I thought loved and cared about me....because he said he did, and I made the mistake of taking him at his word. How was I to know that I wasn't the first, nor would I be the last? I violated my own rule of never becoming involved with someone on the internet because I allowed myself to let my guard down over the years. Even though I had been warned, had heard rumors, I chose to ignore them because I had never seen any evidence personally that would have lead me to believe anything was amiss....I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt based on my interactions with him. I absolutely believed in this man, and thought that all I had heard was nothing more than vicious rumors and lies....because he told me they were. And for a long time, I thought I had made the right choice in trusting all he told me....