WOW!iMOM

A NeverEnding Story

Krysta Kirton Niner
October 8, 2026

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1. Who I Am and Why I Am Seeking Therapy

My name is Krysta Kirton Niner. I am the Lady of this Household, their Daughter, his Wife, the BIRTH Mother of 3 Sons, and an individual with a lifetime of experiences that began long before my marriage and motherhood.

I am seeking therapy because I am emotionally exhausted.

Two of my sons have now told me that I am the reason for their problems. Both expressed these feelings around the age of eighteen. I have heard that the more I try to help, the more problems I cause.

I have spent much of my life trying to understand responsibility, independence, protection, family, and what it means to be a good parent.

Yet today, I question whether I ever learned how to advocate effectively for my children or myself.

I am not asking a therapist to declare that I have always been right. I want to understand what has happened in my family, what I can take responsibility for, what belongs to others, and how to move forward without losing myself.

I want to understand why I feel so alone in relationships that I believed were built on love, trust, and shared responsibility.

I am their Mother but, Motherhood is not the entirety of who I am.

2. WOW!iMOM — The Memory Behind My Story

More than twenty years ago, I remember driving with Corey and my son Tyler.

Corey pointed out something wonderfully simple about the words WOW and MOM: turn WOW upside down, and it becomes MOM.

I was Krista Romero then.

Today, I am Krysta Kirton Niner.

Different names. Different chapters. The same individual.

That memory has stayed with me.

Today, I see another meaning in those letters:

WOW!iMOM

The little i represents the individual within the mother.

I am not simply someone’s mother or someone’s wife. I am the person who has lived through every chapter of my life, carrying my memories, accomplishments, mistakes, responsibilities, and relationships.

I believe I am eternal. My life is a NeverEnding Story.

And I want to understand how to continue that story without allowing other people’s judgments to become the only definition of who I am.

3. My Childhood — What Happened Before I Became a Mother

I experienced sexual assault and abuse from approximately four to fourteen years old.

I was nine when I told my Mother.

After my disclosure, she took me to a Doctor. I experienced that examination more physically invasive, adding to the distress I was already carrying.

I needed protection, understanding, and a safe way to comprehend what had happened to me.

My childhood also included exposure to sexual material before I was mature enough to understand it.

Near our family home in the Fort Union Boulevard area of Utah, at 1620 East 7080 South, there was an open field where neighborhood children played.

Before the Santa Fe Apartments were developed near that field, children discovered pornography that had been hidden there and brought it into my parents’ home.

That became part of my early exposure to sexual material.

My brother also came to me with questions about sex. I believe he needed a trusted adult who could discuss those subjects openly and appropriately without creating fear or shame.

Instead, I found myself involved in conversations about sexuality while I was still trying to understand my own experiences.

I want my Therapist to understand these circumstances because they are part of the foundation of my relationship with safety, trust, bodily autonomy, privacy, and responsibility.

I do not want to be defined by the abuse I experienced.

But I do not want its influence on my life ignored.

4. Independence — Why I Wanted My Own Life

As I grew older, I wanted independence.

I wanted my own place, my own belongings, and the ability to make decisions without feeling that someone else could take away what mattered to me.

I wanted somewhere I could be alone when I needed privacy and somewhere I could feel safe.

My desire for independence was not simply rebellion against my parents.

It developed within a childhood that included abuse, family conflict, and experiences that made boundaries especially important to me.

I eventually left Utah and established a life in Arizona.

I learned to take responsibility for myself, sometimes before I fully understood what that responsibility would require.

But independence has never meant that I wanted to live without meaningful relationships.

I have always wanted family, companionship, communication, and trust.

I wanted the freedom to be myself without having to give up belonging.

I want therapy to help me understand how my early need for independence shaped my expectations of marriage, motherhood, and family life.

5. My Mother — Understanding Without Erasing My Childhood

As a young person, I did not always understand my mother’s experiences or decisions.

As I matured, I came to recognize some of the difficulties she faced, and I eventually apologized for how I had treated her.

That apology was meaningful to me.

But apologizing for my behavior does not mean accepting responsibility for the abuse I experienced as a child.

Nor does it erase the ways I needed protection, communication, and understanding.

I want to be able to acknowledge my mother’s humanity and limitations while also acknowledging the child I was.

Now that I am a mother, I recognize how easily children and parents can misunderstand one another.

I also recognize that the experiences of a parent and child may be very different, even when both believe they are acting out of love.

I want to examine those generational patterns without assuming that my sons must eventually reach the same conclusions about me that I reached about my mother.

I want understanding to happen while we still have opportunities to improve our relationships.

6. Becoming Tyler’s Mother — My Choice to Parent Alone

I became a mother when Tyler was born in 1996.

Motherhood changed my responsibilities and the direction of my life.

I made the decision to parent Tyler without relying on his biological father as a parenting partner.

For years, I tried to fulfill what I understood as both the mother’s and father’s responsibilities.

I worked to provide protection, guidance, stability, and care.

I made mistakes. I learned. I made difficult decisions.

I was not trying to be a perfect mother.

I was trying to be the parent my child needed.

I wanted Tyler to know that he could come to me, ask questions, speak openly, and trust that I would take his concerns seriously.

My experiences growing up made communication and protection especially important to me.

I wanted my children to have the kind of safety and understanding I had needed.

I also recognize that my intentions may not always have matched how my children experienced my decisions.

That is something I want to understand in therapy.

7. Corey, Tyler, Kyle, and Our Marriage

When Corey married me on June 26, 2010, he joined a family that already included my sons, Tyler and Kyle.

I was already a mother.

I had already experienced years of parenting responsibility, including my choice to parent Tyler alone.

When Corey and I married, I believed I could finally stop trying to fulfill both parental roles.

I wanted to be their mother and for Corey to be their father.

That was a conscious decision rooted in love and trust.

I believed we were uniting our lives as an eternal family.

I did not expect Corey to agree with every decision I made. I expected us to communicate, share responsibilities, and work through disagreements as partners.

I wanted our sons to have a father they could trust and talk to.

But I also expected that our relationships with our children would strengthen our partnership rather than gradually exclude one of us.

Over time, I have felt that Corey has sometimes supported our sons individually without maintaining the communication and cooperation I expected between us as parents.

I recognize that fathers and sons need relationships of their own.

I do not believe those relationships should make the mother an outsider.

I did not give up my place as Tyler’s mother when Corey became his father.

I chose to share the responsibility of parenting, not surrender my voice.

I want therapy to help me understand what partnership means to Corey, what it means to me, and where our expectations became disconnected.

8. Tyler — Mental Health, Advocacy, and Guardianship

Tyler’s mental health has been one of the most difficult and enduring challenges of my life as a mother.

I have spent years trying to obtain appropriate treatment, coordinated care, and meaningful support for him.

His schizophrenia and related treatment needs have involved repeated hospitalizations, court proceedings, changes in placement, and uncertainty about his long-term care.

I have often felt that I was trying to explain his history repeatedly without achieving the coordinated treatment I believed he needed.

I want him to receive care that addresses his illness, supports his dignity, and provides meaningful opportunities for recovery and stability.

I also want to understand how to advocate for him effectively while respecting his rights and autonomy as an adult.

Corey and I are pursuing guardianship, with a hearing scheduled for December 2026.

That process brings me back to the commitment I believed we made when we married.

I need us to function as a team.

I want us to communicate about Tyler’s treatment, medical decisions, therapy, family involvement, and long-term support without either of us being excluded.

I also need help recognizing the emotional burden of years spent trying to obtain help for my son.

I do not want to abandon him.

But I need to understand how to support him without carrying every responsibility alone.

9. Kyle — Independence and the Pain of Being Blamed

Kyle is eighteen.

Recently, he told me that I am the reason he has experienced difficulties with friendships and other aspects of his life.

This was especially painful because I had already heard similar accusations from Tyler around the same stage of life.

I found myself questioning whether my efforts to protect and help my children had somehow caused the very problems I was trying to prevent.

I also recognized a possible generational pattern.

I remembered my own desire for independence and the apology I eventually made to my mother.

But I do not want to assume that Kyle’s experience is identical to mine.

I want to understand what he has experienced, including whether my communication, boundaries, or responses have affected him in ways I did not recognize.

At the same time, I need Kyle to understand that I am an individual with responsibilities, boundaries, and feelings of my own.

I want to respect his growing independence without being expected to accept responsibility for every difficulty in his life.

I want a relationship in which we can disagree without either of us feeling that the other must be defeated.

10. The Household Boundary and Our Recent Conflict

Our recent conflict involved a longstanding household rule concerning our youngest son, Jay.

When Corey and I are away and Jay is home alone, my rule has been that no visitors are permitted except Kyle.

This rule was established to protect Jay and maintain clear expectations about supervision and responsibility.

When Kyle brought his girlfriend into our home under circumstances that violated the rule, I expected Corey to support the boundary or discuss any disagreement with me privately.

Instead, the situation developed into a larger confrontation about my parenting and Kyle’s frustrations.

I felt blindsided.

I felt that Corey did not stand beside me as my partner.

I am not asking Kyle to apologize for dating or becoming independent.

I want the household boundary acknowledged, and I want us to discuss disagreements without personal attacks.

I also want to examine whether the rule has been communicated clearly, whether it remains appropriate, and how both parents can establish expectations together.

I am willing to reconsider how I communicate a boundary.

But I do not believe that having a boundary automatically makes me unreasonable.

I want help separating the specific incident from the years of resentment that surfaced during the confrontation.

11. Jay — Protecting My Youngest Son

Jay is my youngest son.

I want him to grow up in a home where safety, trust, communication, and respect are understood by everyone.

I want him to see his parents working together rather than becoming divided over decisions involving his care.

My concerns about household boundaries are not simply about controlling visitors.

They are about responsibility, supervision, and protecting a younger child.

I recognize that Jay is growing older and that our rules will need to develop with his maturity.

I want Corey and me to make those decisions together.

I also want Jay to feel free to communicate with both parents without becoming responsible for our disagreements.

I want him to experience a family in which independence grows alongside responsibility.

12. My Marriage — The Partnership I Need

The conflict with Kyle has brought years of frustration within my marriage into focus.

I feel that Corey has sometimes listened to our sons’ concerns about me without helping us communicate those concerns directly and constructively.

I do not know everything Corey and our sons have discussed.

But I want to understand how we reached a point where so much resentment could surface at once.

I do not need Corey to agree with everything I say.

I need him to recognize that I am his partner, not his opponent.

I want him to be able to support our sons without dismissing me.

I want us to be able to disagree privately, establish shared expectations, and communicate honestly.

I also want to hear where Corey believes I have contributed to our difficulties.

I am willing to examine my own behavior.

But I want that examination to take place within a relationship where both partners are accountable.

I chose to stop parenting alone because I believed we had become a family that would parent together.

I need to understand whether we can rebuild that partnership.

13. My Faith and Eternal Identity

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My faith is central to how I understand myself, my family, my responsibilities, and my eternal existence.

When I ask someone to read the Book of Mormon, I am not asking them to follow my faith.

I am asking them to understand what I have studied and come to believe.

I regard the Book of Mormon as a historical record of ancient America.

I believe it records the lives of people, families, migrations, governments, conflicts, covenants, and the ministry of Jesus Christ beyond the lands described in the Bible.

I understand that its historical authenticity is disputed outside my faith.

Nevertheless, I recently reread the Book of Mormon as an adult, bringing my lifetime of experiences and comprehension to its words.

I continue to believe in its historical and spiritual truth, and I personally regard it as more exact than the Bible in important respects.

I believe Jesus Christ ministered among the Nephites, as the Book of Mormon records.

I believe in Zion.

I regard Jesus Christ as my Eternal Brother.

I believe in God the Eternal Father and the Holy Ghost, and I understand my covenants as part of my eternal relationship with Them.

I believe people can leave a place, become independent, and still carry their identity, history, and responsibilities with them.

I see recurring patterns throughout human history involving freedom, family, power, accountability, and stewardship.

These beliefs influence how I understand motherhood and independence.

I want my sons to become independent without feeling that they must reject their family to establish their own identities.

I do not need my therapist or my family to share every one of my beliefs.

I need them to understand that my faith is part of how I interpret my life and the eternal family I believed Corey and I were building.

14. Independence, Loneliness, and Our Home

I have valued independence since childhood.

But independence has never meant that I wanted to be alone.

I enjoy preparing meals, spending time together, talking, laughing, and sharing ordinary family experiences.

Over time, some of those routines have changed.

Our kitchen remains under construction, and our family often eats while watching television rather than gathering around the table.

I sometimes prepare meals alone and feel disconnected from the people I am preparing them for.

These experiences may seem small, but they represent a larger feeling of lost connection.

I miss being part of a family that voluntarily comes together.

I do not want to force anyone to spend time with me.

I want to understand how we can create a household where everyone has independence and still feels a sense of belonging.

I also want to recognize when my own expectations of togetherness may differ from those of my husband and children.

15. My Emotional Exhaustion and Need for Support

Recently, I said that I wanted to “hit delete.”

Those words came from a place of profound exhaustion and discouragement.

I was questioning why I should keep trying to become better if the people closest to me did not seem to recognize the good I was trying to do.

I have also expressed my belief that I am eternal and that my life is a NeverEnding Story.

I want a therapist to help me explore these feelings honestly, including what I meant by those words and how to care for my emotional safety.

I am tired of feeling that I must defend my entire life whenever someone disagrees with my parenting.

I want to understand my mistakes without allowing them to erase everything else about me.

I want to learn how to rest, establish emotional boundaries, and respond to criticism without losing my sense of worth.

I need a place where I can speak without feeling that every statement will become another argument.

16. What I Want to Work On in Therapy

My goals are interconnected.

Childhood trauma and healing: I want to understand how the sexual abuse I experienced, my disclosure at nine, the medical examination, and early exposure to sexual material affected my development, sense of safety, boundaries, and relationships.

My relationship with my mother: I want to understand the difference between acknowledging my own behavior toward her and minimizing what I experienced as a child.

Personal identity: I want to reconnect with myself as an individual whose worth is not determined entirely by my success or failure as a parent.

Marriage and communication: I want Corey and me to understand each other’s expectations, rebuild trust, and learn how to approach parenting decisions as partners.

Parenting adult children: I want to respect Tyler’s and Kyle’s independence while maintaining appropriate boundaries and meaningful relationships.

Parenting Jay: I want to establish consistent expectations with Corey that support Jay’s safety, development, and independence.

Tyler’s care: I want support managing the emotional and practical challenges of guardianship, treatment advocacy, and long-term family responsibility.

Accountability: I want to recognize mistakes I have made, acknowledge them appropriately, and make changes without assuming responsibility for everyone else’s choices.

Conflict resolution: I want to communicate concerns clearly, listen to disagreement, and recognize when a conversation is becoming unproductive.

Emotional well-being: I want help addressing exhaustion, grief, loneliness, and the pain of feeling misunderstood by the people I love.

Family connection: I want to explore whether individual, couples, or family therapy could help us rebuild communication and trust.

17. What I Need My Therapist to Understand

I do not want therapy to become another place where I must prove that I am a good person.

I want an opportunity to understand myself.

I recognize that my husband and children may describe our family experiences differently.

I want their perspectives to be heard.

But I also need my perspective to be taken seriously.

I want my childhood experiences understood without having every protective decision I make attributed to trauma.

I want my faith respected without expecting anyone to adopt it.

I want my children to be free to grow into independent adults without treating me as the cause of every difficulty they experience.

I want my husband to recognize that partnership requires communication, accountability, and respect from both of us.

And I want to learn how to advocate for myself without feeling that I am abandoning the people I love.

I am willing to change.

I am willing to learn.

I am willing to apologize when I recognize that I have caused harm.

But I cannot repair every relationship alone.

18. WOW!iMOM — My NeverEnding Story

More than twenty years ago, Corey showed Tyler and me how a change in perspective could transform WOW into MOM.

I still remember that drive.

I remember the woman I was then.

I remember the mother I was trying to become.

And I recognize the woman I am today.

I am the child who needed protection.

I am the daughter who grew up and apologized to her mother.

I am the young woman who sought independence.

I am the mother who chose to parent Tyler alone.

I am the woman who married Corey believing we were building an eternal family together.

I am Tyler’s mother.

I am Kyle’s mother.

I am Jay’s mother.

I am Corey’s wife.

But I am also the individual who has lived through every one of those experiences.

I believe I am eternal.

I believe learning, accountability, forgiveness, and growth are continuing parts of existence.

I do not want the rest of my story to be defined by whether my husband or children believe I have been good enough.

I want to understand myself, take responsibility for my choices, honor my relationships, and continue becoming the person I choose to be.

WOW!iMOM.

I am Mom.

I am also me.

I am still learning.

And my story is still being written.