Afterthoughts

Eugenia Appling Short      Domestic violence entered our home when my mother married her second husband.  Many times, he would get his gun and point it at her.  One time the gun went off and fortunately no one was shot. Many things happened through the years that caused fear in my heart. I didn't realize I needed to forgive in order for the fear to go away. At the age of fourteen I went to church camp.  The girls' counselor had each of us write a letter forgiving whomever we needed to forgive.  I wrote a long letter forgiving my stepdad. We were to mail it to ourselves. I did what she told us to do, but I never received my letter.  When my mom was in her seventies she came to live with me, I told her about the letter.  She said, "When it arrived, he opened it.  That was the maddest I had ever seen him." It was good to know he read the letter, and he knew I had forgiven him. The letter There are many ways to forgive someone. It really doesn't matter how it's do