I Didn't Keep the Peace. I Kept the Resentment.

The most generous sounding lie I ever told myself was that staying quiet was a form of love.

And the thing is, it was love. That is what makes it almost impossible to see. I knew a certain subject was tender for Esme. I knew that pushing into it would cost her something. So I didn't push. I told myself that was the loving choice, and in that moment, it was. The problem is that I made that same loving choice a few thousand times over the course of years, and choices compound.