Welcome to the Moth podcast. I'm Tim Lopez. I'm an educator, a moth storyteller, and an interpretive park ranger at Channel Islands National Park. On this episode, in honor of National Parks Week, we're celebrating our national parks, from iconic landscapes like Yosemite and Yellowstone to sites that showcase American history, like Harper's Ferry and Manzanar, with three stories, all about our national parks and why they matter. So I've spent the last two summers working as a ranger at Channel Islands National Park, which is off the coast of Southern California. And one of the things I hear from a lot of visitors is, I've lived my whole life around here, and I never knew this existed. Now, I have to admit that that was also me. Growing up in Los Angeles, I'd heard of the islands, but I'd never got around to visiting until I started working there. But once you've been out to the islands yourself, you can't help but feel a connection to this wild, undeveloped place. You could really feel the energy of the people who have called it home and been visiting for thousands of years, and you become a part of that. And it's guiding people into making that discovery for themselves that makes working at the Channel Islands so special. There's something wonderful about places that belong to each and every one of us, places that we have chosen to honor and protect and to share. Our first story is all about the lessons and strength you can take away from

a place like that. Kathy and I, Carrie, told this at a Louisville Grand Slam where the theme of the night

was fuel to the fire. Here's Kathy, live at the morning.

My husband and I had been invited to a Halloween party and I knew that Halloween 2009 was going

to be very different as the perfect couple's Halloween costume popped into my head.

John and Lorena Bobbitt.

Yeah, complete with props, you know, a bloody butcher knife in one hand and in the other,

oh, it's terrible I know.

And what's really terrible is I grinned every time I thought about this.

Now, I assure you, I didn't always think like this.

I went into my marriage with a wide-eyed optimism. He was charming

and charismatic in an O.J. Simpson, Jimmy Swigert, sort of way. And before we got married, he had

never raised his voice, let alone a hand to me. He had me convinced that every bruise I hid was a direct

result of my failure as a wife. My world revolved around his moods and when lightning might strike again.

Now I know I probably should have left after the first couple of red flags, like when we didn't

get our rental deposit back because he had splintered every door frame.

My bad for locking the door after he's put his fist through the wall right next to my face,

according to him, you know, I was just overreacting.

The voice that the rest of the world heard was very different than the voice I heard behind closed doors.

For God's sakes, Kathy, you are so stupid.

If you think anybody is ever going to love you, but me, you're wrong.

If you ever try to leave me, I will take your kids, you will never

...