Watching a friends strength

I wanted to take a moment and write about a dear friend of mine that has been one of the strongest women I know. I met Kristi in 2004 through her Husband Todd who was one of 4 people that used to run the JCF with me. Both of these people have been a huge inspiration in my own struggle with Kristi being the one who could relate to what I was going through on a much different level.

In 2003 a then unknown assailant sexually assaulted my friend in her own apartment. In 2005 it would turn out that the person who was suspected of the crimes was actually a police officer. Over the course of several years it would come to light that this sick individual assaulted at least 4 women and stalked a 5th.

Any assault can have a drastic affect on a human being but to have to endure the things that these women had to be beyond belief and yet as hard as it was, my sweet friend fought her way back and regained control of her life.

In 2006 when it came time for me to start talking about my story Kristi was one of the first people to embrace me, make me feel normal and could relate to me on the perils of dealing with therapy. While my story pales in comparison to hers, it was in her determination and strength to come back to life that gave me an incentive to be stronger in mine.

This past month has been incredibly tough on my friend as she has had to endure getting on the stand and testifying against her attacker and deal with the vast amount of press coverage that has been thrown into the spotlight. As hard as this has been on her she has done an excellent job of keeping her composure and most of all realizing that she alone is in control of her life. At times reading different press articles has been hard on her as one would expect and with every new printed word we would discuss our thoughts on things never wavering from the belief that this scumbag would be found guilty.

Monday Kristi made her final appearance in court to watch the jury take the case into deliberations and then spent several days on the edge of her seat praying for her justice. That justice came yesterday in the guilty verdict on 35 separate counts. My hope for her this am is that she awakens with a much lighter weight on her shoulders.

As I sit here and write this I'm incredibly proud of her for her strength and determination to get the justice she deserved and most of all be who she is today. It takes an awesome human being to be compassionate and a source of support all while keeping it together. I am in awe of her and only hope that I can learn to be ½ the woman that she is.

If you want to read more of the story the articles are all here

http://www.pantagraph.com/pelo/

Kristi, thank you for being my friend throughout such an incredibly difficult time and remember how proud I am to know you…

Your friend/sister
Karyn