emotional connection

The Loneliness of Secrets: Finding Connection Through Vulnerability

I grew up in a household where we children were given one very clear instruction: what happened inside our home stayed inside our home.

We were never to discuss it with others, much less write about it publicly. Even as a child, I understood there was a reason for the secrecy.

Some of what happened behind those doors was inappropriate; some of it crossed far more serious lines.

My brothers seemed to accept the silence differently. To them, families had secrets. You kept them hidden.

That was simply how the world worked. For many years, I did the same.

Writing about those years now is not an act of revenge. My parents are no longer here, and exposing their […]

Beneath My Silence — When I Feel Unseen

I learned young how quickly a life can disappear. One day there was a mother, a home, animals I loved, a room that knew my name, books and toys, friends and familiar hallways.

And then there wasn’t.

No goodbye to the life before. No place to put the memories. No permission to speak of what had been mine.

I learned to carry it quietly.

Perhaps that is why silence still finds the tender places in me. Why an unanswered call can become more than an unanswered call.

Why someone’s absence can awaken an old question:

Did I matter?

I have spent years trying not to ask too much of people.

I listen to their stories ~
their work, their families, […]