I first heard the term during treatment for alcohol addiction: geographical cure. The idea is simple—if you change your surroundings, your job, your relationships, maybe even your name, you can outrun the past. It’s meant as a caution: no matter how far you go, you take your past with you. Or as they say in AA,
This piece is poignant, heartbreaking and bittersweet. Each new positive discovery of yourself was dashed by the need for secrecy. It is as if you had multiple funerals for your young self. Your ability to remember these details and write through them proves writing is a tool for healing.Thank you.
This makes me so much more aware of my hetero priviledge. Adolescence and teen years were hard enough, but the layers of shame and discomfort you describe just break my heart.
Thanks, Julie. I'm still peeling things back. With each new memory, comes a little release. It has been helpful to look back and find an arc to what I thought was so random.
This one is so laden with details I don't know what to single out. It hit me when you described the prom date--Jamie seems like such a kind, caring, wise young lady that I hope you've kept touch with her somehow. As a character, she jumped off the page at me!
Thanks, Mary Lois. That's helpful. This time of my life is still filled with so much shame and buried, uncomfortable moments. Sometimes I can do is make a laundry list and return later with an eye for more depth. I did call Jamie a few years ago and thanked her.
This piece is poignant, heartbreaking and bittersweet. Each new positive discovery of yourself was dashed by the need for secrecy. It is as if you had multiple funerals for your young self. Your ability to remember these details and write through them proves writing is a tool for healing.Thank you.
Thank you, Karla. I think you, like me, have found writing as a way to heal. I love the way the gentle way you write about your own experiences.
This makes me so much more aware of my hetero priviledge. Adolescence and teen years were hard enough, but the layers of shame and discomfort you describe just break my heart.
Thanks, Julie. I'm still peeling things back. With each new memory, comes a little release. It has been helpful to look back and find an arc to what I thought was so random.
This one is so laden with details I don't know what to single out. It hit me when you described the prom date--Jamie seems like such a kind, caring, wise young lady that I hope you've kept touch with her somehow. As a character, she jumped off the page at me!
Thanks, Mary Lois. That's helpful. This time of my life is still filled with so much shame and buried, uncomfortable moments. Sometimes I can do is make a laundry list and return later with an eye for more depth. I did call Jamie a few years ago and thanked her.
So glad you didn’t follow through with the pills. You have the gift of storytelling and it is magnificent!🥰
Thank you, Pru. I always appreciate your encouragement so.