For The Daughter I Love...

Often I told my daughter that those who separate you from your faith and your family are not your friends. Those who love Audrey - her mother, her brothers, and I, as well as some dear friends who worked very hard to save her life - have risked and accepted her displeasure for her benefit., and would do so again. But those who have come by her friendship cheaply, whether they are disingenuous, insincere, embarassingly ignorant and self-important blood relatives or not, will cast her aside when they no longer benefit.

Since I do not have time enough for those I love, why would there be any for those who only weaken me? I deserve better than to even think what some deserve for what they have done to me, what they would do still if I let them, and even now, what these malevolent wretches are doing to my daughter. It is no small consolation that God is just and that, in my judgment, they have earned their reward.

Let them nestle their myths, their envy, their prejudices, and their hatred. These things will consume them. It is a gnawing and ever-present agony that I cannot help my one and only daughter and that she trusts those who would see her soul in hell. Although it cannot be soon enough that she recognizes the danger, we will be here for her when she does. May God protect her from predators. For now, God has given wonderful gifts and, with a grateful heart, I intend to enjoy them.