But I also had to work diligently on taking each conversation at face value and not dragging my story into it.
Oh, labug, how often you enlighten me. I did this very thing with D16 last night. She made what she probably thought was a simple request and I made it fit into a whole backstory, although I didn't realize it at the time. Sometimes her mouth is just sooooo similar to her dad's that I react poorly. After I read this, I sent her an apology text. Thank you. The next step is recognizing it before I need to apologize......
