Where do I begin?

So the other day I was walking through Glasgow to catch my train after work. I’d got my skinny jeans and leather jacket on and my earphones in-the usual. It’d been a long day. Then I was approached by a couple of guys. I’d seen them come off a side street, notice me then said something to each other before coming up to say something to me. “What, sorry?” as I pulled out out my earphones. “I just wanted to say, you have a beautiful shape,” he motioned curves with his hands. “Your bum in those jeans is perfect.” “Um. Thanks. Thank you!”

I got really flustered and embarrassed. I don’t know how to deal with compliments but we parted and I got on my train. For a hot minute, I felt flattered. It was a nice wee ego boost. Then I questioned it. This isn’t the first time in the past few months that something like this had happened. A stranger passing comment to me on my body. I know big bums are very fashionable at present but why does that make it OK to come tell me your thoughts on my body? I spent the entirety of school loathing my wide hips and round bum and I’m still struggling with loving my body, especially my bum. And yes, it’s nice to hear compliments about it as opposed to all the derogatory comments I’ve endured since puberty popped my hips and ass out.

Me:

The other day I saw a story where a woman was asking why her dogs had suddenly started growling at her boyfriend whenever he was in the same room as her son.

And my immediate thought was ‘that boyfriend has hurt the kid somehow.’

Spoilers: that was exactly the case.

Fast forward about six months when I went north to visit my family. My sister walked into my parents’ house and pupper ran to greet my sister. Stopped dead in her tracks and started growling and barking. Hackles raised, full protection mode. My sisters husband had just walked in behind her.

My precious puppy wanted NOTHING to do with him. She barked, growled, ran away, and sat between him and my sister. Y'all my dog had spent maybe a weekend a half around my sister but protected her like this was her flesh and blood.

Eventually, my sister filed for divorce on grounds of “Extreme and repeated mental, emotional, and sexual abuse.” Divorce was final in less than a month because her claims were substantiated.

There was this one horse I worked with named Tonto. He was a doll. He followed me like a puppy, snuck treats out of my pocket, he was the sweetest thing. We were practically inseparable.

A guy I was considering dating came to visit me one day, and Tonto wanted NOTHING to do with him. Normally well behaved, he shoved himself between us and would NOT let this guy near me. He was stomping, acting really aggressive, and tried to bite the guy. This horse was practically dragging me back toward the barn. At that moment, despite being like, 17, I knew something was up, and ultimately things didn’t pan out for guy and me.

A year later I found out he had lied about his age (he said he was 18 but he was actually 27) he was arrested for sexually assaulting an 11 year old girl.