I raised my niece on my own — eight years later, she pointed at a woman in the next beach changing cubicle and whispered, “Aunty, look… she has my mark”

” I said. “We get help from someone who knows how to talk through big feelings. Joan has to tell the truth, and you get to feel however you feel.”

“Then what changes?”

“Can I be mad?”

“Yes.”

“Can I be curious too?”

“Yes.”

“What if… I don’t want to know?”

I squeezed her hand. “That’s allowed most of all.”

“Can I be mad?”

The next afternoon, I met Joan alone.continue reading …