Matt
Secondary Survivor of Domestic Violence Homicide
I’m a package driver for FedEx, I have Jonathan, my adopted son, he’s 14. He’s just an easy going kid, he’s just a good kid, especially all that he’s gone through. He was my sister’s. He’s got a good heart. He’s good to have around.
My sister, she was murdered by her husband, he took his own life after that. My Dad, he almost lost his life through that too, he got shot.
I remember I was numb, no emotion. I don’t think anybody really knew how bad it was up until the end was coming, I knew I didn’t know how bad it was up until that point. Then my focus was like, “OK, I gotta go get Johnathan”, that’s where I went, to get him out.
I’m still trying to re-engage with life, it’s affected every aspect of my life. Everything, it’s affected the way I look at life. It’s never easy to talk about, but I know that I need to talk about it more because I know that will help.
I try not to play the what if game, nothing good comes out of it. It just prevents you from moving forward. There’s a lot of stuff that you have to work through, you know when you have your bad days they are bad days. You’ve got to get through work, you’ve got to get on with life. I think it’s important to maintain a certain normalcy to life, don’t let it define you.
If there is anything positive, I don’t let anybody go without them knowing that I care for them because you know, tomorrow’s not promised.
