She Talks

She didn’t see how badly she was hurting herself. “I feel like I should be able to handle this,” she admitted. “I mean, she does so much for me. Who am I to complain?” We were halfway through our mentoring session. I paused, remaining silent on the other end of the phone line. The space between us told me to wait: I knew she wasn’t finished yet. “A part of me feels like I should just suck it up,” she finished. Her throat tightened around her voice, holding back a tsunami of sadness. While spending Thanksgiving with her family, this incredibly deep, wise woman became embroiled in a familiar struggle with her mother. Her new haircut (too short), the mess her green smoothie made in the blender, how she wanted to go for a walk instead of visiting with the cousins-- her mom shot passive aggressive jabs at them all. No matter how calm and compassionate this goddess was in her daily life, when she visited her family, it all seemed to fly out the window. Her mom seemed to know exactly which buttons to push, cau