Misty, I read your essay from the contest. I loved my daughter and did all I could for her but there was always interference from my family. who tried to take her from me, they told her I was a bad mother, and they treated me like crap. They made her lose respect for me which made her feel I didn't love her and it was so untrue. I couldn't fight their lucrative forces. They had money, I did not. All this must gave affected her. I read this line and felt sick. I wonder if she could have written this too:

I was THAT desperate to belong to someone, to something, to belong somewhere. I was THAT desperate to be able to point to anyone or anything and call it mine. It never worked.

I am going to talk to her about this. Thank you. You may have facilitated some healing for us. You see, they dropped her from their good graces when she started to steal from them but the damage was already done to our relationship. I hate them.