I reached the bottom of the steps and looked out at the ocean, which is vast and deep and answers to no one, and I felt entirely anchored, which is a strange word for how the ocean makes a person feel and the only true one.

My home is mine.

My company is safe.

My future belongs to me and to no one standing behind me.

For seven years there was always someone behind me, telling me where I was permitted to go, how small I was permitted to be, how quiet.

There is no one there now.