Seeing clearly
In the past month and a half, I have been blessed by the sharing of others who grew up with a parent who was/is a hoarder, or who experienced other dysfunction within their childhood homes. I say blessed, because several of these women who have shared with me have done so for the first time in their lives. And I feel honored that they chose to share with me ! And then the old thoughts of insufficiency came back to me... Why would they want to share their stories with me? Why did they choose me? Of course, the obvious answer is that they saw my story--real and open for the world to partake of. But I believe that it goes much deeper than this. I want to believe, (and this is spoken in humility, I promise...) I want to believe that they sense safety, compassion, hope and acceptance that they don't always experience in the world at large. (At least, I hope that they sense these things from me.) I continue to stand in awe that people choose to share their stories with me, especially whe