CORA - Four-legged PTSD Therapy

There has been so much written about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) - soldiers coming back from battlefields, people who've survived disasters and people who've survived violent crime. These victims and their families endure the aftermath of whatever trauma has upended their lives in many different ways and for various lengths of time. Some never "get over it". Suicide, divorce and family devastation are too often the final chapters to these stories because there are few proven therapies and few trained therapists. Often, the therapy only focuses on the immediate victim - the soldier or the victim - and the people who make up that person's support system are either overlooked or, at best, given little more than a pat on the back.

"Dateline" aired a special three years ago - "The Desperate Hours" - which dealt with five kidnap-for-ransom cases from Mexico, Central and South America. All five men were rescued, either by ransom or by law enforcement, and all five had been married with families at the time of their kidnapping and rescue. Their stories were horrifying and miraculous. What stood out to me, however, was an end note: 'five years after they were rescued, only one couple remained married.' Could that happen to us? I knew the answer was "yes" because our family was splintering around the edges.

In searching for a therapy that would help Paul and I "move past" the trauma of his kidnapping, I found more and more articles written about "therapy" dogs and how these service animals produced faster and deeper healing than most traditional therapies, not only for the victim but for the victim's family as well. PTSD sufferers and their families were reporting less stress, better sleep and less depression. The more I read, the more shows like "60 Minutes" that covered the growing treatment and resulting success, the more convinced I was that no "person" could provide the therapy that Paul and I needed to move forward in our lives together.

Two years ago, we adopted Cora. She protects us. She knows when Paul is feeling anxious or down and soothes him. She "reads" us. It's amazing. She's taken over our home and our hearts, healing the wounds no traditional therapist ever came close to doing. She is love and trust and confidence in a fur coat. I am so glad that, in large part, because of Cora, more than five years later, "there's a smile on my face, knowing that together everything that's in our way, we're better than all right". (lyric from "Between The Raindrops"-Lifehouse and Natasha Bedingfield)

WALKING BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS - coming soon.

Heroes - Texas Style

The heroes of "Walking Between the Raindrops" are many. I've been keeping a list of names and agency references and it's just mind boggling. Many others, I know, I'll never know about. The list in the next paragraph represents just the ones "discovered" in records and reports provided to me by different agencies.

Here's my (partial)  Hero Hall of Fame:

Williamson County Sheriff's Office -  28+ officers and detectives
Texas Department of Safety - 8+ officers and helicopter pilots
Texas DPS Texas Rangers - 10+ rangers
Hays County Sheriff's Office - 6+ officers
Texas Department of Corrections - K-9 Unit
Austin Police Department - 3+ officers
San Antonio Police Department, SAPD SWAT and ROP Units - 22+ officers and detectives
San Marcos Police Department - Unknown
CERT Team Volunteer Search and Rescue - Unknown
U. S. Marshalls Fugitive Task Force - 4+ rangers
F. B. I. - 2+ agents
Laredo Police Department - 4+ officers
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - 3+ agents
A very brave little girl and her mom
Tom Roland

See? Mind boggling.

Two special people, however, are central characters in this book. They led the way, ran down every lead, never slept and kept all the wheels from falling off. You can read all about them in "Walking Between The Raindrops" when the book comes out this fall.  Until then, here's a couple of shots from the e-Book added video:

                          Williamson County Sheriff's Office - Dectective James Maugham

                                                 D.P.S. - Texas Ranger Matt Lindemann

Perspectives 2

It's Easter Sunday. The early service at church was packed. I loved sitting beside Paul and family. The grandchildren were especially adorable (of course). The pastor's message was exactly what I needed to hear.  Now, thinking about it all as we wait for the grandkids to come over and hunt Easter eggs and have dinner, I can't stop thinking about the mothers and fathers, wives and children of the people who upended our lives six years ago.

What is their Easter like? What are all their holidays like without their sons and daughters - husbands and fathers? The perpetrators' children will likely have children by the time they get out of prison. Some may never see their parents alive outside of prison again. Actually, some may never leave prison at all.

I know that when those mothers first saw them as babies they couldn't have looked at them and wished or imagined that one day that little boy or that little girl would grow up to be a kidnapper, a thief or criminal of any kind. From the parents that I've seen, it's a good bet that all they wanted for those children was for them to have a good life and grow up to be good people. What do the wives tell their children? What will become of their children?

It's Easter Sunday. I thank God for all His blessings, for our children and our grandchildren. I thank Him for all our family and friends. I thank Him for the gift of His son and the promise of the Resurrection. I thank Him for watching over the families and loved ones of the kidnappers and pray that they feel His love every day. I thank Him for holding the lives of the kidnappers and pray that they feel His love, too.

Perspectives

Looking back over the last six years, since Paul's abduction, gives me a strange perspective on the human condition. Since February 2008, there have been major natural disasters all over the world, too many school shootings, wars and rumors of wars and all manner of trauma for human beings everywhere. There have also been grand gestures of great populations around the world lending support and help to the world's most needy or devastated. Celebrities and politicians, students and organizations and faiths of all kinds rally together to send aid and money when horrible things happen to others.

The kindnesses I remember in our case weren't blasted all over by the media. They were quiet acts of kindness. Quiet acts of strength. Quiet acts of encouragement from people who were strangers, now friends, and existing friends who, by their acts then and still, define the very word.  They were from law enforcement. They were from the justice system. They were fellow victims. They were people who cared before we needed care; who continue to care today.

"Walking Between The Raindrops" is our journey from victim to victorious. It's the true story of heroes with uncompromising ethics in a world full of blurred lines. It's the true story of international organized crime terrorizing an average American family - average American grandparents. It's also the true love story of two people whose lives were torn apart and rebuilt.
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