Blog #3 - Weight On Shoulders

As the days passed and Dorothy finally began to get used to the holiday season being comparing still to New York, her nightmares began to return. Around spring time of this year, her nightmares had faded away, and she even went months without a single dream at all. However, with the memories of holidays as a child with her father and mother surfaced, the nightmares seemed to have returned.

Dorothy tried to be someone who could move past troubles and focus on the positive things to come, and she was generally pretty good about it. So why could she not move on from what her father did to them? Would he forever haunt her mind? She woke up this morning with a shirt dripping of sweat and her pillow thrown across the room. She recalls throwing a pillow in this most recent nightmare, but didn’t realize that she had actually done so. As she tried to catch her breath, her thoughts swam with images of ruined Christmas days and broken glass scattered across the floor.

Although the last Christmas Dorothy and her mother had experienced in this town was quiet and peaceful, they were both tense and carried a weight on their shoulders. They have discovered that it takes time to mend the broken memories and replace them with happy ones. For Independence Day this year, they were able to laugh together and enjoy the fireworks for the first time ever. There was no fear of violence or fighting or crying. Dorothy had hoped this holiday season would follow in the summer’s footsteps, but it seems like her memories were still very much present. Will they ever go away?