Thank you for sharing, WI. I am so blessed that you and Fayerody are sharing these intimate parts of your story with me -- and for others to read who may not want to share right now.

Your sharing made me think back to my days, in the late 1960s, in an early "consciousness raising group." This was when women started coming out of homes, not to coffee klatch, but to identify common experiences we'd had that made us feel ashamed. Gyns putting us on early, imperfect birth control pills and then telling us we were nuts when we reported depression and other bad effects. Job ceilings. Unequal pay. Credit card companies that wouldn't accept our applications. Banks that wouldn't give mortgages. Each of us thinking, "It's me." Until we came out of our homes and shared these things we thought were "shameful."

It wasn't my intention to start a "consciousness-raising thread." But the needs have moved on. Perhaps time to tackle the more subtle things that happen on the slippery slope to loss of a strong healthy center of self.

I'm glad your here, WI, and that you shared this with us. Thank you, thank you.