Thank you, dear one. ❤️

That’s a difficult thing, isn’t it? I had a contentious relationship with my father that wasn’t rectified before he died. In my case, I was in a room alone with his body lying in the casket before cremation. I lashed out at him and said all the things I wish I could have said while he was living and didn’t. Interestingly, a year later, I went to the site when I spread his ashes on the bank of the Ohio River. My heart had softened somewhat. I stood there and apologized for yelling at him that way and that I forgave him for not being the father I wished he could have been. Then, I did a mental exercise that was quite healing for me. I had an internal conversation with him and imagined him, in his voice, saying all those things I wished he would have said. In other words, I had the conversation I had always wanted. I re-wrote history. Why? Because I wasn’t helping myself holding resentment and anger. He couldn’t be who I needed him to be in real life, so I made him who I wanted him to be in death. Then I let him go and thanked him for being such a blessing to me. He taught me so much about what a man should not be with his family. He showed me what I didn’t want in my life. And, miraculously, in the midst of all that, I remembered truly good things about him. He was a brilliant artist. He was an avid outdoorsman. He had unfulfilled dreams. This exercise allowed me to embrace his good attributes. And that allowed me to break the chains of unforgiveness. I hope this serves. ❤️