@Ladybug,

I wanted to thank you as well. I did some introspection on the drive home and asked myself why I am not more authentic with my daughter now that she is an adult? When I wrote, I believe my daughter hides things from me out of a fear of disappointing me, I realized that I do the same. I fear losing her respect. When I got home I discussed it with her. We sat on the bed and had a long chat about it. I think we both feel a little better today. 🙂

And as I’m writing this, one of the people here at my work whom I recently gave up as a friend has sent me an email that I sorely want to answer in an authentic way! Instead I’ve written something vague and professional, but I can feel that more authentic response burning in my brain, screaming to be set free! I suppose as Anita pointed out yesterday, being authentic doesn’t mean sharing every thought and feeling. We live in a world that is growing smaller by the day and civility is sometimes the best course, even if it means rewriting that email reply three times before you hit “send.” LOL 😉

Hang in there Ladybug. Keep smiling – or not. 🙂