Oh, Maria! What a wonderful story! It made me weepy on reading what the father did!!!!!! Immediately, I was thinking same as you - wish I'd thought of it!

Such an incredibly unique idea and so deeply meaningful!

Gosh, what would I do differently as a parent?? So many things. And mostly, I wouldn't have had my children - not because I didn't / don't love them, but because the circumstances into which I brought ALL of them were so absolutely NOT good.

Looking back and having learned so much throughout my healing journey and life experience, I can see that there was never a time when it was right. My relationships all had toxic foundations and although I did the best I could and I took them for counselling over the years, they paid for my poor choices.

It's not like I was living in a crack house and dealing in drugs and they were starving or being abused or anything - but it created instability and changes that were harder on them than I realised.

My ongoing attempts to give them happier homes always ended in disaster.

The best way I could have been a better parent would have been if I'd had much earlier awareness of the kind of help I needed to heal my own wounds and set myself up in a better life with emotional and financial stability etc. first, built a healthier environment for them with a marriage, and THEN had them.

Fantastic story, Maria, thanks so much for sharing this, and for choosing HHH to publish!! 💜