About Book
Within the contents of the following pages you will read my story. I wrote them for you, the reader. While I am not a writer by profession, it was important for me to tell you my story without the guidance of a ghost writer. My style may not be traditional, but it is honest and true. I feel deep in my heart that the life I have lived and the choices I have made were meant to be shared. Please understand that many parts are extremely intimate details that some may say leave me vulnerable, however, I am not afraid.
I know this memoir was my assignment, as I was to tell you my story in my own words. My prayer is that my journey somehow gives you not only the hope for a better future, but the permission and ability to forgive everything that has been done to you whether through intention or by accident. Forgiveness is critical.
I want you to know that you are not alone. I read somewhere that we are all broken, each and every one of us, in some way or another, and that is okay. It gives us our humanity. I open my heart to you the reader. I give you not only my love, but my joy, my sadness, my fears, and my compassion. Lastly, I pray that you may experience a better life through forgiveness.
This memoir, over twenty years in the making, reflects my recollection of the events in my life. It was not written in vengeance or to point the finger at anyone for things they may have said or done to me in the past. Some of the names, locations or identifying characteristics may have been changed or left out to protect the privacy of those depicted. The dialogue has been re-created from my memory.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently stated,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
About Author
Sue Haines, a survivor of domestic violence and restoration advocate, was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Are you Susan? was guided by her impassioned desire to be of service to others. Equipped with a BA in Human Development and twenty-one years law enforcement experience, she shares her compelling journey of how, after a violent attack on her life, she was able to come to a place of complete and total forgiveness. She did this by God’s grace, her will to thrive, and through the principles of restorative justice. She has spoken to hundreds of audiences across the country, appeared on local cable television, Larry King Live, as well as on two episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She resides in Northern California where she is within close proximity to her children and grandchildren.