I became a matron when I was in my early-50s by outliving my parents and all of my brothers.
No one I encountered in my adult years had experienced the unique adversity which I had. Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, as it was commonly called from the 1970s through the early 2000s, shaped my life long after distancing myself from the unhealthy relationship that created it, and the unhealthy relationships I entered into because of the lack of healthy models I had experienced.
Eventually I achieved contentment and success few survivors of such abuse manage to build for themselves.
I began to ask myself, “How did this happen?”
Through therapy, an analytic mind, journaling, extensive writing and research, and serendipity and determination, I rebuilt myself oneself honestly, but with conscious effort, and I managed this journey and created The Women’s Legacy Project.
Some contributing factors include:
- Attending university, and eventually finding that I had been born an anthropologist
- Learning how information really forms and is used in American society and human culture
- receiveing a Masters in Science in Anthropology and Sociology from Purdue University
- Marrying and having a daughter allowed me to compare her normal childhood to my atypical one
- Working within university-systems in libraries and museums until I decided such work, while extraordinarily interesting, was unrewarding both financially, and professionally, so I headed off to create my own business
- my own development through what anthropologists call auto-ethnography, documenting and sharing what I gleaned
- began therapy focusing on the child abuse I had come to recognize I experienced
- When ready, I became active in national women’s blogging networks in 2007, I practiced new behaviors in virtual worlds, with other real people, and began coaching women in online writing practices
From Blogging to Publishing
I began to develop and share the culturally-based tips and techniques that I had used to be a tenacious and resilient survivor. The Women’s Legacy Project has emerged from this journey and I invite you to continue along the empowered path that experiencing collective legacy and developing your personal legacy provides to you.
Context
My incorporated business is called Hill Research Services, LLC and the Women’s Legacy Project is just that, a project within HRS.
I live in Tucson with my husband, Neapolitan Mastiff, a striped-and-spotted black-footed Zippy cat, aquatic turtle (all rescues,) and several fish.