it's not your fault

we just put up a brand new bone sigh on the site.
it's called 'it's not your fault.'

it's inspired from a story in this latest book that
i'm reading, scarred by struggle, transformed by hope.

the author wrote of a 70 year old woman who was in her office
sobbing and telling her story of being a victim of incest.

the author didn't dwell on this story. she just put it out there in
a paragraph.

and i tell ya, that one paragraph moved me to tears.

and filled me with the desire to do something.
so strongly.

and so i made a bone sigh. with a little 'wallet card' that
we will slip in the back of the print that you can carry with you.

it's not your typical bone sigh, and i feel two strong
voices inside my head with it....

one voice - and it's beyond a voice - it feels like it's
way down deep into my cells - is telling me that i have to
put this out there. that i need to put this out there for
people carrying this kind of pain.

and the other voice - which feels more like a voice and not
like my cells - is telling me i'm stupid. and it's stupid.

again, another struggle.

that happens with bone sighs from time to time.

and i always put them out anyway. and ignore that voice.
because that's a bone sigh deal.

but i wanted to mention the voice crying stupid.
cause it's loud, and it's unnerving, and it makes me
want to hide.

putting it out there and saying it's there and i'm not
going to hide even tho i want to, feels important.

and i tell ya, if this print can be of any kind of help
in chiseling a wall away for someone, it so matters to me.

so, today, we put up our new print.
it's monday, so our weekly audio tells the story.
i actually read the paragraph from the book that moved
me so deeply. if you want to hear it, you can find the
weekly audio on our homepage.


here are the words to the print:

it's not your fault.
you didn't know what to do,
who to tell,
where to go.
it's not your fault.
you didn't know.
it's not your fault -
and it's time now for you to hold that.
for you to hold her -
the little girl who is you.
hold her and love her.
hold her and love you.
hold her and let the other go.
it's time now.
you can do it.
women everywhere who share your story are standing next to you.
love yourself.
and let the other go.