We’ve started the process of healing. We’ve been in family therapy. Ethan has been in individual therapy—we made sure he got the support he needed.
And we’ve made a decision. We’re going to wait for Emily. We’re not going to chase her. We’re not going to track her down. We’re going to let her know that if she ever wants to come home, our door will be open.
What I’ve Learned
This experience taught me some hard lessons.
Sometimes our children have secrets we don’t know about. We can’t always protect them. We can’t always know what they’re going through. But we can keep the lines of communication open.
Honesty is essential. If Emily had talked to us about what she was feeling, we might have been able to help. Instead, she carried her pain alone and made a decision that devastated her family.
We can’t control everything. We can’t make our children stay. We can’t force them to love us. The best we can do is love them and let them go.
