I do not regret separating. I regret only that I could not shield them from all the collateral damage—from the scourge of parental alienation. For I did not abandon them; it was the failed system that tore me away. They wrenched me from their lives, then blamed me for the hollow that remained. And I… I believed it, for far too long.

My children are my eternal love, my unhealed wound, my steadfast hope. I do not wish them to repeat my story. I do not want them to love with fear, to fall silent under pressure, to endure what breaks them. That is why I write this. So that one day, should they choose to look, they will find the other side of the tale. And they may understand that their mother was not weak. She was strong, in her own way. And that she loved them—even when she had to step away, simply to survive.

I read letters sent to mailto:[email protected]