They were trying to help me, however misguided that was. It
wasn’t okay with me. It took me a long time to forgive them.
They did change their minds. They do accept that I am who I
am and that’s not going to change. They do love me. They
never stopped, even if they were dead wrong. Love can make
people do crazy things. They changed their minds, though.
They truly did. They are much more open, kind, and
compassionate now.”
“They treated you like you were sick! That’s just-
that’s just wrong! What they did was wrong!”
“I know! I know that. They know that. I’m not telling
you this to get into it with you about what they did and didn’t
do in the past. I know you probably won’t believe that they’re
incredibly sorry and they’ve spent years trying to repair the
damage that my relationship with them suffered. They’ve tried
to build that trust back up. What should I do? Hate them for
making a mistake? They always loved me, Quinn. Always. I
know that. They never told me not to come home. They never
told me I was wrong or flawed. They never tried to get me
therapy or anything like that. They were never cruel or unkind
to me.”
“They might as well have been!”
“Okay. I know this is hard for you to understand. I’m
telling you ten years’ worth of stuff in just a couple minutes
and I’m doing a terrible job of it. I don’t want you to hate my
parents. Everyone makes mistakes. They’ve spent a lot of time
paying for theirs. It wasn’t easy. We were all unhappy for a
long time. I’m telling you this just to help you understand why
I said those things. And that- that I- never meant them. I never
stopped thinking about you. Seriously. I thought about you