Domestic Violence Memories
My name is Shelly M. Nelson. I'm a 34 year-old single parent
of a 16 year-old son. As a child, I wanted to be a nurse when I
grew up. I was always a compassionate child, very loving and
caring towards others. I became a mother at 18, my senior year in
school. I worked multiple different jobs in order to keep my bills
paid and my child taken care of. The relationship with my son’s
father didn't last, so I dated of and on, but nothing really serious. In
2005, Hurricane Katrina hit my hometown of New Orleans, LA, so
I relocated to Atlanta, GA.
I began dating a guy, which later led to us being engaged.
That was a happy moment in my life and I really thought we would
grow old together. Unfortunately, he wanted to continue to cheat
outside of our relationship so we broke up. I was very sad but I
was always a beautiful, strong, independent woman so I knew I
would find love again. My mom called me on my birthday and told
me she had breast cancer, so I left Atlanta to move back home.
After moving home, I began working at my old job, enrolled
into nursing school, and continued taking care of my son. I started
going out with friends, and met a guy. He told me he was attracted
to me, and wanted to take me out to dinner. I told him I had to
think about it but we did exchange phone numbers. He called me
the very next day and asked again about taking me out to dinner. I
thought it was sweet of him to keep asking so I gave in and said
yes. He knew I had a son and he asked me if he could come with
us, so I agreed. We had dinner and actually had a great time. He
made me laugh, made my son laugh and asked if we would go to
dinner with him again. I didn't want to be dating but I did like him.
I liked how he would bring me flowers, roses, and candy to my
job. He would buy me anything I asked him for. Money never was
a problem. He owned his own flooring, carpet, and tile company.
He had 2 sons and he would bring them to my house to play with
my son. He never yelled or raised his voice at me or at my child.
Into our third month of dating he would ask me daily if I wanted to