10.26.25
The speaker at the women’s meeting this morning was only a few years older than me. Maybe that’s why I connected to her right away. She started sharing her story. What she went through, how she felt about it, how she reacted had a heavy rock forming in the pit of my stomach. It’s that kind of feeling where you know if you start crying, you might not stop.
There were differences in her story, of course, but the similarities pulled me in. Some of the things she said, I still thought I was the only one who felt that way. It’s strange how I’ve heard it a hundred times “someone in the rooms has been through it too” and I’ve even said it myself, but hearing her talk today made it really sink in.
I realized I’ve been carrying guilt and shame over certain feelings, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not that I’d change what happened or how things turned out. It’s just that the feelings around it still live somewhere deep in me. Hearing her made me realize I don’t have to keep hiding them.
After the meeting, I spent some time with my daughter. She asked how it was. I didn’t go into detail, just told her a little bit about what I was feeling and the comparison to my story. She didn’t say anything, just put her hand on my shoulder. That small moment of quiet comfort felt like exactly what I needed.
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