Eva picked up the phone and said “yes”. It was the first time in three years she answered her mother’s call. She needed three years to heal her inner child of past abuses. Her mother called once a year, usually before her birthday, usually with new demands on top of usual demands. Eva was calm. Her heart rates – stable. Her mother was hysterical. “Come to me” she pleaded in a command-control emotional tone. “Do you think this will make me want to come?”, answered her daughter. “I do not know what else to do”, said her mother. “Maybe if you see that this is not working, you should stop pursuing it?”, Eva responded. Whining followed. “You can call me back when you calm down”, said Eva calmly and respectfully. Her mother called back in 30 minutes to say that she was fired and lost the case in court and wants her lawyer daughter to look into the case and remedy it. Eva said she will find a lawyer to help her, the same way she did it for any of her friends in legal trouble. And she did find a good lawyer. To Eva this conversation was an echo from a past life. A life she left behind through a rebirth. She healed her bleeding childhood through homeopathy, counseling, yoga, meditation, books and research, ups and downs until she reached the bliss of forgiveness and inner peace. Psychologists use the term “post-traumatic growth” to describe people who are changed for the better by a traumatic event, and it is both an outcome and a process, as explained by Richard Tedeschi, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte for Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/16/parental-estrangement_n_4317550.html . We go through life creating new families, learning from them and moving on ( “The Power of No: Because One Little Word Can Bring Health, Abundance, and Happiness” by James Altucher and Claudia Azula Altucher). Eva is christian and the story of Jesus attending a wedding resonates with her: Jesus’ s mother and brother waited outside to see him. He let them wait and made it clear to the apostles that “you are my family now”. Eva congratulated herself for such a mature reaction. Her role of a mindful parent now was more important than succumbing to traps of a life, which is in the past. A past put to rest. For good. Everyone’s good. “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.” Regina Brett