Hardwired: Neglect of the Heart

Take a view into the raw living that occurs in households across the planet as it is displayed in this fictionalized personal memoir of an abuse survivor who is determined to collect the data required to sort out reality, survive, and most importantly, tread the narrow path of life that forces you to choose between following the blueprint set before you, or to draw a new one. Ramona Pedron tells this gripping true story of life under the horrific reign of an abusive, tyrannical mother. As a very young child, Monica is handed over to an aunt and uncle, whom she calls her mother and father. She is happy with them and content in her life, until at the age of seven she is returned to her real mother and stepfather. Monica and her younger sister, Carmen, and her older brother, Tony, are subjected to their mother's daily tirades and their stepfather's willing silence as they grow up in an acutely dysfunctional family. Monica's mother isn't just a control freak-she is determined that whatever her children ask for, long for, or desire, she will give them the opposite. Her punishments for the slightest infraction are extreme. Suspecting Monica has done something against her wishes, she slashes and smashes Monica's possessions, including her private journal and all of her clothing. Humiliation is her weapon of choice, and she wields it at the slightest provocation. Things aren't any better for Monica at school, where she is troubled-and failing-both socially and academically. By the time she reaches junior high, she is voted "dog of the school" by the beautiful and popular students. She escapes into a world of recreational drugs and alcohol, attending classes only when it suits her. Then, in high school, a light shines into Monica's life in the form of Miss Cohen, a counselor and mental health professional who takes Monica under her wing. With someone safe to talk to, Monica gradually reveals her family's story, including the hidden sexual abuse from her early childhood. She begins to see that her life's circumstances are survivable and surmountable. Even as an adult, however, Monica can't completely escape the tyranny of her mother's behavior. She leaves home and builds a life for herself that includes a partner and a daughter-and an addiction to alcohol. Over the years, as she struggles to break the grip of addiction and cope with the mounting demands of her aging parents, she ultimately realizes that she is a survivor. She learns that she can triumph over the pain of her childhood, even to the point of doing what was once unthinkable-loving her mother.