“I’m trying to learn to stop before I make it worse.”

That was the first time I understood what real change might look like.

Not a person who never made a mistake, but a person willing to acknowledge it without demanding that everyone else pretend it had not happened.

I also understood that I had a right to walk away if the effort stopped.

Both truths could exist at once.

PART 16: A Visit From Mrs. Gable

Mrs.