“It was just a story of how the bitter cold gets into your bones and never leaves you, of how the memories get into your heart and never leave you alone, of the pain and bitterness of what happens to you when you’re small and have no defenses but still know evil when it happens, of secrets about evil you have no one to tell, of the life you live in secret, knowing your own pain and the pain of others but helpless to do anything …” Robert Goolrick, “A Reliable Wife” (2009)

Robert Goolrick was severely abused by his alcoholic parents and the families who produced them. He engaged in self-harm by cutting his skin, consuming alcohol and drugs, and mindless sex. Crimes have consequences.

Let’s remember the children who experienced early trauma, who split off to cope with abuse, and may not have made it back to the sane world, just yet.