truth & trust
September 27, 2015 § 2 Comments
Over the past week my husband and I have navigated complicated conversations with legal counsel. It has been emotionally exhausting, this necessary madness, as we protect ourselves against false accusations and unethical manipulations of those we endeavored to honor as family.
For years I’ve attempted to speak in generalities out of respect for the privacy of those I felt a burden of obligation, to preserve whatever legacy of belonging I might will my children in the absence of memories. This week I buried whatever hope remained.
Phone calls from family friends cautioning threats and legal counsel advising us in our employment against personal accusations. Words and deeds that cannot be so quietly swept among the skeletons we guard.
I understand the illness that has fed the spiral into such demonstrations of contempt and gestures of control, but even tolerance and empathy cannot sustain so many assaults against truth.
It would be easy to name each lie, to shame those who act with little regard for truth. I’m choosing instead to trust right over wrong; holding the written evidence of others’ untruths for a different legacy. Stealing myself for peace and preserving integrity against those who trespass love in the name of family.
Truth is a patient witness, trust a tender guide.
scribblechic 
Hey Marie, as I go through a few changes myself I’ve been quiet on the social networks. I feel inclined to break my silence this one time and send you and your close family my best wishes in this difficult time.
Thank you, Maurice. It has been an impossible tragedy, one I’m not sure we will ever fully recover from. On the most challenging days I try to consider how I might counsel my children to honor truth and integrity in the face of personal harm. There is a lesson in this, I’m sure of it, I only wish I were a quicker student.
Sending you best wishes, too, as you navigate change. Your voice is well-missed.