The first person ever to cry for what was done to me was my very first trauma therapist. I owe her a debt I can never repay. Her tears were the first realization I had that what was done to me was worthy of someone's tears.

Her exact words to me were:

"I know you can't find your own tears right now, but as we work slowly and carefully with all these little girls you carry inside, they will come."

That was 30 years ago. In the intervening time, I integrated and found my tears. I felt almost human in that moment.