My best friend just came to my apartment and we had a nice long talk about everything we’ve been through in life. A lot of our conversation was about our fathers and how we think they both need anger management. We talked about how being around them makes us feel tense and anxious. My dad’s anger is seriously scary. There were times growing up when I thought he was going to kill my mom. It’s nice having someone to talk to who understands.

Anyway, my mom asked me to call her after my friend left. She asked me what we talked about... I told her “we talked about our dads” and she goes “oh, what’d you say now?” In an annoyed tone. She does this every time I try to talk about him and how much he’s hurt us, and how the things he’s said and done aren’t okay. It’s frustrating because she’s a really good mom besides this. She lets me vent to her about everything else, but she tells me I’m wrong when it comes to him...

I wrote this to her. And I’ll probably never send it or write it to her, I just needed to get it out of my heart.