For the Love of My Boys

Portraying the harrowing extremes of abuse and the traumatic effects of parent alienation, For the Love of My Boys: A Mother's Story of Parent Alienation implores fellow parents involved in divorce to leave the children in peace, to grow happy and healthy free of adult worries and jealousies. What Sherri-Lee has experienced is tragic. While Sherri-Lee commits to counseling and therapy to get her life back and happily re-marries, the tumult, and the effects of parent alienation that is damaging all of those in the family, tragically results in suicide of one of the main people involved.Sherri-Lee James was born into the life of an army brat and spent her youth on small military bases across western Canada. Moving every three years or so, her life is a lonely and isolated one as she is unable to develop any support system apart from her parents. As a teenager her family is stationed in the big city of Edmonton and when she meets an older guy with a good job and a seemingly bright future...well, it is something like finding the magical city of Oz. With her low self-esteem and craving for a stability she has long lacked, they are married when she is just eighteen. Quickly establishing a home and starting a family with Eddie who is an alcoholic she soon finds the thought of a wonderful new life taking a turn for the worse. Eddie's constant abuse, manipulation, and control is a harrowing downward spiral and while she does all she can to please him-whether what he wants is in her own best interests or not-her life devolves into a degrading, dehumanizing experience. Finally, after five years of marriage and two years of trying to keep the marriage alive after he has an affair, she summons the courage to give up and leave. This, however, leads to stalking, physical attacks, and finally, his plan of last resort: teaching-and convincing-their five and six year-old sons to hate their own mother. Out of concern for the wellbeing of her children she continues to aid her ex-husband financially, only to see it continue the cycle with her children. Feeling impotent and with no other recourse, she watches as the havoc and devastation wrought by his behavior impacts her boys: the oldest son is car-jacked due to his father's business debts while her youngest suffers from bouts of homelessness and continuously finds trouble with the law.An excerpt from the book:The peace in the house lasted for about four months before the arguments started again. During one of our arguments Eddie's actions crossed the line once again. This time we were in the middle of a very heated argument and Eddie grabbed a kitchen knife and held it to my throat. The frequency of these incidents didn't make them any less frightening. You never knew what he was going to do. Was this the time he would lose control and kill me? While he was holding the knife to me throat he said: "First I'm going to kill your mother and then I'm going to kill you." I was terrified.My adrenalin was rushing through my body giving me a bit of strength and courage. I managed to push myself away from him and when I did heseemed to realize what he was doing. It was as if his anger caused him tozone out. My mother was thousands of miles away in Ontario so I wasn'tworried about her but I knew I should be very worried for me.