Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

It was never your fault.

Not the silence.

Not the weight I carried alone.

Not the way I learned to disappear inside myself.

You did what you could with the tools you had.

You held storms in your chest

so they would not spill onto me.

You taught me strength,

even if it came wrapped in quiet.

I used to wonder why you couldn’t save me

from every shadow.

Now I see you were fighting your own,

and still, somehow,

you gave me light where you could.

Dear Mom,

I don’t blame you.

I don’t carry anger anymore.

I carry understanding.

I carry forgiveness.

I carry you.

It was never your fault.

It never will be.

Love,

The child who finally knows

you did the best you could.