Beware the Jabberwock, the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

It has been eight months since I had decided to take a step back from my parents and go no-contact. I don’t think anyone makes this decision lightly, nor is it done without feeling those prickly tendrils of guilt.

Today my mother called. After last month’s Nightmare Before Christmas I had decided that her phone number had earned itself a place on my blocked callers list. It’s true that this particular boundary isn’t constructed from impenetrable materials and it’s more of a wire fence than concrete barrier. I actually felt immensely guilty that I had taken such a drastic measure.

Today she called to tell me that her friend died. Now “friend” may not be the correct term, but I am not sure what else to call my mothers 3rd cousin’s elderly aunt. I know a good many people would have me called out for being callous for not being more supportive, but those people didn’t grow up with my mother.

Photo by Simon Wijers on Unsplash

Almost Alice

The name Alice is a French derivative of an Old High German name meaning noble. Not the born into a family with a notable status and rank kind of noble, but the good person with courage that values things like honesty and integrity. More importantly, Alice is the name of my most favorite heroine who found herself very much out of her depth trying to reason with the unreasonable.

I am not Alice, not yet anyway, but I will be soon.

While the legal name change process is a bit of a tedious exercise it’s not especially challenging provided you can collect all the required items and come up with the fees, but that’s not what’s going to change my life. That’s my part to do I suppose, healing and finding a way to move forward. It’s okay though because at least I know there is a way forward now, well I believe there is anyway.

Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels