“You did not deserve the shame they gave you.”
Mary Mba (Ph.D)
Dear girl,
You were just trying to survive. You thought if you loved hard enough, if you worked hard enough, if you stayed long enough, maybe they would see you. Maybe they would help carry the load. Maybe they wouldn’t walk away.
I want you to know it wasn’t your fault. The shame you carried for being abandoned, for not being enough, for failing to hold everything together—it was never yours to begin with.
You were already enough.
I’m proud of you for fighting. For going back to school. For giving birth and giving love when it felt like no one saw you. You didn’t have the support you deserved. And still, you rose.
You don’t need to apologize for the boundaries you’re just learning how to set. You don’t need to earn rest or softness. You always deserved both.
And one day, they’ll look back and realize that the woman they resented was the reason they could stand at all.
I see you. I honor you. I release you from the need to be everything to everyone.
Love,
The woman you became.