Maya: Writing about that was so cathartic and freeing. It helped me process these memories that I didn't even know I was carrying around inside of me. As kids, we just grow up in whatever soil we have, whatever environment we have. We don't really think about it. I think kids are remarkable and miraculous for this reason. We just find ways to thrive like flowers between the cracks in the sidewalk. I had never thought of myself as having a particularly rough childhood. I went to great schools. I was really close with my mom. I certainly never thought of myself as having been abused at all. To have that vantage point as a grownup and as a parent myself, to be able to look back and say, oh, that happened and I never gave it thought and now I can, that was really powerful. For a lot of people who have grown up in dysfunctional homes or with difficult parents, I think a lot of times what we tell ourselves is, whatever happened wasn't that bad. Other people have it so much worse. Other kids have it so much worse. To come out of that stance and instead of trying to put him on a spectrum of, well, how bad was he? to instead just claim my story and say, this is what happened, that freed me from under its spell.
