“My 76-Year-Old Grandpa Took Me Into the Woods Every Day and Made Me Undress Until I Was Half-Naked. But One Day, My Mother Secretly Followed Us and Heard Strange Screams Coming From Deep Inside the Forest. When She Got Closer and Saw What We Were Actually Doing, Her Heart Couldn’t Take It. She Fell to Her Knees and Burst Into Tears…”

And now, after twenty-five years, they were standing on opposite sides of the same stream.

My mother took one unsteady step forward.

“Mary, is it really you?”

Mary began crying.

“Yes, Sarah. It’s me.”

My mother shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“I thought you never wanted to see me again.”

Mary wiped her cheeks.

“I thought you were the one who didn’t want to see me.”

The words struck my mother harder than any accusation could have.

“I was ashamed,” she whispered. “I thought I had ruined your life. Every time I considered calling you, I remembered that day. I imagined you answering the phone and telling me that you could never forgive me.”

Mary looked at her with heartbreaking tenderness.

“Sarah, I waited for your calls for years.”

My mother began to sob.

“Why didn’t you come looking for me?”

“I tried.”