A few days ago, I shared a story of Senator Cory Booker giving me comforting words after I told him about being sexually assaulted. (He is my role model, and I was struggling so so so so hard… And when I wasn’t 100% sure where to turn, I turned to him.)
What he might not know is that not only did he give wonderful advice after everything happened, he sort of bookended himself, as unbeknownst to him, he was there when my whole saga started.
It was literally – literally – *the* morning of the (second) sexual assault that I went to Cory’s book signing.
(In fact, I mentioned in a post later that I was feeling so down that I hardly even wanted to go see Cory Booker (which is insane, because I loooove Cory Booker)… And now we know the overwhelming reason why I was so down that day…)
I was still a little in shock, which I think made it easier to try to go about my day like nothing was wrong. But even with the protection of shock, I certainly was struggling that day (of course).
I didn’t even stop at home after my assault happened. I put myself together as best I could. I went to a hair salon and make-up place, and tried to look as cute as possible for potential pictures with the senator.
And I kept pushing through my day, trying to be present, trying to keep it all together… I listened intently, as he talked about growing through life, and passages from the book and everything. And I thought about how he could get through anything… and so could I.
That picture I have with him (at the top of this post) is one of the greatest symbols of strength (for myself) that I think I have.
Because on probably one of the worst days of my life, I kept pushing forward to (instead of going home and crying and not having a clue what to do) – to go out and show my face and be around people, and attend an event that was important to me to go to… And Cory Booker was even there to hug me when I did (even though he had no clue how much I needed that hug because of what had happened to me that very morning, just hours prior).
[This post is from the series on sexual assault.]