30 Days of Truth: Day 4: Something You Have To Forgive Someone For

My mom met a man when I was 8 or 9. We lived in California at the time, in a tiny apartment. He was not a nice man. He hurt us in a lot of ways, but there comes a point in someone's life when they need to let that go, and that is what I need to do.

It's taken me a long time to come to this point. To actually say those words and mean them, but in order to make a clean break and finally let the past be the past, I'll say them. I forgive him.

He may have broken my spirit and bruised my mother, but he gave me something that I hold onto, and that is courage of the heart. I hold my head above whatever crap I might wade into. I'm strong and opinionated (even if it is quietly sometimes) and I make sure that people know that my body is my body and my mind is my mind and I want them treated with respect, because I deserve that, and my kids deserve to see a good example of that.

So, here I am, 19 or so years later, breathing the biggest sigh of relief I have ever breathed and saying it. I forgive him.