Her words were more powerful than any act of revenge could have been, because revenge would have kept her tied to him, and indifference set her entirely free.

I watched my daughter learn that lesson in real time, over months, and it was one of the most instructive things I have ever witnessed, because I had it backward myself for most of my life.

Like most people, I had always assumed that the opposite of love was hate, and that to stop loving someone who wronged you, you had to hate them instead — that hatred was the tool by which you cut yourself loose.

Gaby taught me otherwise.