I live close to nature and off grid in a secluded 8 acre forest in a remote region of the Appalachian mountains. Nature has brought me home to myself after decades of trying to desperately escape me and the mountains of Appalachia.
The same mountains I had tried so hard to escape now bring me peace. I went off grid 9 years ago which helped me hide, heal and sustain life. I thought several times I was going deep in the woods to die however I survived but barely.
I’ve been surviving as long as I can remember, seems like the mountain way. I also survived a grizzly domestic assault 24 years ago after two years of escalating violence. I was 24 years old and it was about 2 weeks after Christmas. In the blink of any eye our lives were left shambles after the final assault where my skull was fractured in two places along with my mouth being wired shut. If that wasn’t bad enough, my abuser and father of my second son, Eric Jason Harrington of Cranford New Jersey, came back a few weeks later with a crap bag cop, Dan Lowyns with the Hampton Roads Police Department, to end my life.
Everything you just read is on court record in Norfolk, Virginia and was prosecuted by Amy Cross.
The next two decades I was like a hurricane and drank alcohol like a mofo, morning, noon and night to wash down my bitter reality. The reality that my abuser had given me and my children a life sentence as I suffered from a TBI and severe PTSD while he walks around like none of this ever happened after he exploited me by using my son as a shield and pawn to escape his 8 year prison sentence.
You could’ve never prepared me for this being my life story however it is. I did everything possible to hide from the words I just told you until there was nowhere else to hide. I was at the end of my rope and had stayed silence for two decades about a near fatal assault to protect my children from further exploitation and small town toxic gossip.
Most of the damning gossip and victim shaming ironically came from my brother and his third wife, Shane and Kasey Stragnac Riddle however the part that has actually hurt me most is the abuse from my mother. All non-upstanding Bible Belt beaters that ride the pews and blame women. The level of misogyny that the Bible belt hides behind the king James version of the Bible is astonishing.
No one cared what happened to me and my kids once it was over.
I begin to pick up the pieces two hellish decades later after suicidal ideation was taking over my life towards active suicidal tendencies. I gained the support and strength to remove alcohol with the Sober Sister program.
Then I started getting educated on domestic violence and what an eye opener. That’s when I realized the numbers are staggering for injuries to women. Women suffering from a traumatic brain injury due to domestic violence outnumber the military and athletes combined by 11 times. We have to start talking about it. I realized that I had spent my entire life knee deep in misogyny and learn helplessness in the backwoods of the Appalachian mountains which played a role in my poor life choices. Now it’s time to empower women with a strong, new narrative.
I was called one of the “lucky ones” by Amy Cross and that statement made me sick. If me and my children are the lucky ones then WTF is happening to the unlucky ones? I realized awareness is key and as a society we can do better, much better. Domestic violence and abuse is an epidemic and I will not stand by and see me and my children as casualties when in reality we are the frontlines of a hidden war. This is going on right now behind doors near you.
My healing journey has been an uphill climb that I would wish on no one. My children paid the highest price because after the final assault, I became the abusive one. That is the hardest part of my story and always will be. That is a part of the story that no one wants to talk about however, I want to shed light on the ugly truth behind this life ruining epidemic. 
Use your voice to speak up because silence will kill you and abusers do not care about you and NEVER will. That’s a true story. By sharing my/our story I hope you know YOU are not alone.
The data is in folks and it is clear that domestic violence destroys lives. Save yours before it’s too late and really be one of the lucky ones!!! 🍀 💜🙏🏼
Always, Jenn
Book coming soon! 📕
From The Holler 