Do you carry information about your local battered women's shelter?

[theHandpuppet]

If you don't, please consider doing so. I surely learned my lesson.

I recently went for some breakfast at a local diner and a waitress arrived at my table looking as if she'd just survived being thrown into a wood chipper. Her hands and arms were literally covered with cuts and welts and she had even more nicks about her head and a huge black eye that was nearly swollen shut. To be honest, I thought she had been in a bad car accident. It was only when she turned to place my order that a man in the booth next to me asked her if she'd been in an accident and she laughed, stating that no, her boyfriend just got mad at her.

I was gobsmacked. How could I look right into the face of a battered woman and not even recognize the carnage for what it was? The man and I tried talking (not lecturing) to her but she just kept laughing and saying, no, he really loves me and we really love each other, it's just that he has a bad temper. At that moment I would have given a million dollars to have had a card for the local women's shelter in my purse.

I've gone back several times to that restaurant looking for the battered waitress but I suspect she doesn't work there anymore. Just a word of advice for everyone out there. Carry the information about your local battered women's shelter somewhere on your person. In your wallet, your purse, whatever. If necessary make your own cards, which is easy to do with your home printer. You just never know when a woman out there will need it. I didn't have it and I'm living with that shame and regret. I've no one to blame but myself.