The story of the woman who believed she had to save the broken men she met.

As a child, she was often rejected, put down, not accepted, and did not receive the love she needed to blossom into the woman she dreamed to be. Instead, she kept to herself, licked her wounds, and finally accepted that this was her faith. She no longer seen herself because the people she loved did not see her either. They looked past her while she gazed into their eyes for their approval.

Teenage years were turbulent as she fell in love quite often but it always ended with her not been seen. Again, she gave her everything to her lover only to be rejected and not accepted. Finally, she meets a man whom she falls in love with and they have a beautiful child.

She thinks, ‘this is the family I’ve always been searching for’. One day while looking into her daughter's eyes she sees her own reflection. As a tear drops from her eye landing softly on the ground, she had a flashback of her looking into her mother’s eyes but was not seen.

Her partner’s behaviour begins to change. He is now very abusive towards her and their child. He also had a difficult childhood and he also was not seen. She accepts this abuse as she knows what he’s been through. She takes the punches, the words and lives in the unknown. She’s back to been a child. She’s used to this environment and it isn’t all that bad. Having already survived it before she can do it again.

Her daughter now walking runs up to her with open arms. Jumps up on her lap and looks into her eyes. Again, a tear drops from her eyes but this time they come pouring. This time her daughter is also crying with her. Together, they move someplace safe away from their abuser.

Time passes and she finally starts to feel like she’s strong again. Another man enters her life. He is broken like the last guy but presents it differently. Through her pain and growth, she feels I’m strong enough to save him. She takes on the role of being a mother while trying to be a lover. Her wounds begin to crack open again she feels over her head. Her daughter now walks up to her, head slumped, looks her in the eyes. She sees her reflection but realises she can no longer see herself. They leave together without the man.

More men cross her path and in their eyes, she can see she’s accepted. Finally, she thinks ‘this is it'. I have found him. A few months pass and he starts to become abusive like the rest. Her daughter walks over to her but this time they just leave. She tried to save this man but she’s feels something is going on here. There’s a pattern.

She looks in the mirror of her now small apartment that she can barely afford. She looks into her eyes but nobody is there. More men come knocking but she’s is catching on. What are these men showing me? The mirror she thinks. They are holding up a mirror to me.

After believing her path was to save all these men, she now knows they were mirroring to her all this time that she needed to save herself.

She no longer allows men to cross her path. Shop is closed for repairs her sign says. She is now staring at herself in her mirror asking ‘who are you’. Weeks and months go by and finally, there’s a breakthrough. She looks in the mirror and hears an inner voice that whispers ‘I have been waiting on you’

~ James Deegan