Closure is just a word.

Closure.

How many times have you heard that word after a criminal trial is finished?

Closure.

A word- that’s really all it is.

When it comes to someone you love being murdered, there is no closure.

I learned that yesterday when news broke that Monica’s murderer, Jeremy Grissom pleaded guilty to murder and abuse of a corpse.

A sense of relief washed over me as I realized a trial had been avoided.  The trial was set to start today April 4, 2012, almost two years after we lost Monica.  Over the past few weeks I’ve prayed fiercely that he would  plead guilty and spare her family the agony of a trial.  He has put them through enough already.

To say I’m happy that he pleaded guilty sounds crazy- there is nothing happy about it.  That’s why I say I feel a sense of relief.  I first saw the news on Facebook (where else?) and I literally screamed out loud and all I could say to my husband was “He pleaded guilty!”  I didn’t have to say anything else because he knew exactly who I was talking about.  The upcoming trial has consumed my thoughts and conversations the past few weeks.   I covered my face with  my hands and cried- tears of sorrow and loss.  Oddly enough, tears of thankfulness for this answered prayer.  A prayer I wish I would have never been forced to pray at all.

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I don’t have room in my heart for hatred or anger- it’s taken me a long road to get here though.  Hate and anger- both pure evil monsters- are the two things that put us in this terrible situation.  I won’t let them consume me.  Jeremy Grissom will be sentenced on June 11 and after that, I am completely finished with him.  His face and his empty eyes have haunted me long enough.  I hope he gets the maximum sentence and never has a life outside of prison walls, but to continue to let him haunt me would not be fair to Monica.  This is not about him- it’s about her.

My focus is on her and helping others who are victims of domestic violence.

25% of women are victims of domestic violence.

One in four.

Yet no one is talking about it.

I’ve added a new graphic over on the sidebar.  It’s a permanent part of my blog.  While I hope none of you ever need that number, the statistics tell me that one of you will.  If it isn’t you, it’s someone you know.

I’m still figuring out where to go with this.  I have a passion now and I know somewhere down the road I can turn this into something bigger.  I can feel it in my heart that we are going to turn this hurt into help for other women.

Will you please join me in continuing to pray for her family?