Maggie de Vries
The Only Way Past by Maggie de Vries
     
 

The Only Way Past

Appears in the anthology 
Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle Edited by Marjorie Anderson

In this short piece, I explore the therapeutic process that I engaged in to prepare for the trial of Robert Pickton that began in January 2007. Here is a small selection:

For seven years, I had tried to convince myself that what happens to a body after a person is dead does not matter. Now I know that it does. Now I can no longer separate Sarah’s murder or her murderer from myself.

So, this is what I know: It’s better to feel our feelings, no matter how painful, than to lock them away. Now my mind and heart can turn to Sarah’s death, but I don’t need to force that. I may regret the seven years, but seven years is how long it has taken. I now know that our minds and hearts can guide us, but we need outside help as well. We must never try to face the horrors in our lives alone.

 

Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle

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