The day of Emily’s audition finally came. She fastened the necklace around her neck, her chin lifted high. We sat on a bench outside the theater, her knee bouncing against mine.
“Me too,” I answered. And for the first time, I meant it without hesitation.
She walked onto that stage with confidence. And I realized I was doing the same thing in my own life—taking my first steps into a new kind of freedom.
Lessons in Clarity
People talk about gifts—how they come in velvet boxes, wrapped with bows, meant for special occasions. But the real gift was never the necklace. It was the clarity that came with suspicion. The prickle at the back of my neck. The truth I could no longer ignore.
Peace, I’ve learned, isn’t a door you walk through. It’s a room you build, one choice at a time. Yoga helped. The bookstore helped. Time helped. And so did the moment I stopped shrinking to fit someone else’s story.
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