I had a stalker for years. The kind that breaks into your house and shows up at your job so often, you get fired. Threatening calls, disturbing letters, and an attempt to kill me with a butcher knife. I moved 1000+ miles to get away from him & hopefully into a city where the police would take it seriously (no stalking laws when this first started, the bad old days.) He found me.

I want to thank the Portland police for treating me with respect, and the court system that granted my restraining orders every January. I want to thank the neighbors who called 911 when he threw a brick through my daughter's window, and the landlord who put in the motion-sensor lights, and my old employers who made sure security had his picture & aliases. I want to thank Children's Services, for never buying his BS calls, and to my doctors for the same. Thanks to the detectives who worked so hard & were looking forward to our day in court. And finally, to the city that never once asked me what I had done to "deserve" this.

It's been 3 years since he overdosed on heroin at some cheap motel. Somewhere between then & now, I stopped looking over my shoulder in public, and I don't jump when there's a knock at the door. I don't keep mace by the door, and I don't sleep with a knife under my pillow. It's overdue, but I want you all to know: it's appreciated.