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A Letter to Remind You to Stay Strong, Soft and Authentic
Navigating Adulthood through Generational Childhood Abuse
Dear B,
Don’t lose your sweet softness. Your kindness faith and hope in people. Hope that tomorrow could be better. Its precious and valuable. No matter what anyone tells you. Its a part of who you are. Strong, soft and authentic.
Soft doesn’t mean naive, or stupid. It doesn’t mean you are weak. It means that you bend and bounce under extreme pressure. It means that you bow and don’t break. It also means that you can fit and mold where other cannot. It makes you safe place for others, and yourself, to land.
My grandfather was a hard man. Its taken me years to admit that. I think that happens when we lose someone we love at a young age. I was just five years old when he died. The image of those we lost sometimes becomes bigger than the person they were. They can become a one-dimensional character in your mind. An epitome of some sort, perhaps of greatness to aspire to or of a standard to measure up to. My grandfather represented safety and protection. Something that I desperately craved and needed.
My grandfather was my hero. The man that I ran to when I ran away from home, when my parents abused me. After that he became the image that I ran to, to…
