All The Lights Are On: Vision Changes When Eyes Are Open

Nina finds what she desires in her nursing career, husband, and baby. She marries Aiden, the love of her life. After five years of marriage and the birth of a child, Aiden is killed in a violent car crash. Two weeks later, a disheartened Nina falls victim to an exploding air bag malfunction leaving her reproductive organs damaged. When tragedy strikes, her happy life falls apart. To minimize her pain, she becomes reclusive to the very people who love her. This vulnerability makes her prone to extreme decision making.

Struggling to find her grounding, she explores the disquieting relationship of a doctor she has openly denied for years. Her dark attraction engulfs her. The road traveled is unimaginable. Her fascination with Dr. Damien King, an eye-catching surgeon, propels her toward a smoldering path of discovery.

Nina travels out west with her new husband, Damien, a powerful and respected man. She spends nine years of marriage with this egotistical man consumed with his own sexual habits. With little support in sight, the malignant existence of drugs, illicit sex, emotional abuse, unresolved grief, and thoughts of suicide nearly bring Nina to end her life. When she took what she thought was her last breath in this present world, she remembers what her grandmother said "Child, you are not alone." A grandmother's cry from the dead becomes a timely reminder of who she is. By the time Nina leaves this marriage, she is hardly recognizable by others, let alone herself.

This crushing story of fear, shame, and anger brings a hopeful ending using the fragments of kindness and forgiveness. Burning embers of love embodies her family support. Nonjudgmental friendships encourage her to not give up. Professional counseling provides a perspective Nina did not acquire on her own. A renewed faith walk, illuminates a meaningful direction she chooses to follow. This unfailing power of love in its many forms redeem this 36-year-old woman. Nina finds courage to walk a new beginning. She creates her own mantra "I am never alone, when I have family, friends, and faith."