But I had survived.
Not because I had been stronger than the water, or smarter than every liar, or brave enough never to feel afraid.
I had survived because, at the moment when the truth seemed impossible, I chose to keep moving.
And when the time came, I refused to let the people who tried to bury my family decide what happened next.
The river had taken my marriage, my innocence, and the last illusion that my life had been what I thought it was.
It had not taken my future.
