Dear Anita,

I wanted to let you know – it is now 1 year since I have spoken to my parents.

one year.

wow – one year.

so long, but so short.

See, it’s been a year of tremendous change, and healing (the beginning of healing) so the fact that it is a year or 9 months or 5 years does not matter.  But – it is worth mentioning. It is worth reflecting.

Anita, over one year ago, we sat (in our respective coasts) and talked – and talked – and talked about a solution.  You knew the solution almost the moment you “met” me.  I was not ready to accept it.  But situation after situation came and went, and the solution remained the same – cut these people out of your life.  It is the only chance at a normal life.

And you were right of course, and you are right of course.  Were and are…

So a year,

A year is interesting, it is the time a newborn takes to learn to walk usually

It is a time measure of education, going from one grade to the next, or from one chapter to the next, say high school to college

It is a time people, like to use in arbitrary ways, “oh we will wait a year to decide, or oh give it a year…”

A year.

Feels like something, feels like nothing.

I will say Anita, I know this is just the beginning of the healing journey.  There were times a few months ago that I felt I had taken many steps on that path, climbed up a good amount, significant progress.  Perhaps, but recently I know, this is the very beginning of a long and windy path.  The goal is not to measure how long the path is, but just do your best to remain on it, every single day.