She nodded.
That distinction helped us.
People need room to admit wrongdoing without being permanently reduced to it.
They also need to understand that love does not exempt them from consequences.
Lauren was my daughter.
I did not stop loving her.
But I stopped automatically pretending her actions hadn’t hurt me.
She began practicing the same honesty.
When Margaret made an awkward comment about family backgrounds at a holiday dinner, Lauren corrected her herself.
I wasn’t present.
Ethan told me afterward, only when I asked how the evening went.
Margaret had mentioned that a distant relative married someone with:
“a very different background.”
Lauren said: