Every 9 Minutes

A MEMOIR – BY CHRISTINA VITAFLIANO

Sharing one’s entire life story is no easy task; not for me, not for anyone. I grew up in the ’70s, before the age of information, cell phones, social media, and the internet when the deeply personal subject of abuse was rarely mentioned.

So, for decades, I felt like this was my secret. My pain. My shame. As I grew older and the free sharing of information became the norm, I realized that I was not alone in this category. So many others had similar secrets and stories, but the endings to those stories were often tragic, even horrific, and at times included self-medication, addiction, and suicide.