4. Dear Kiddo, Take My Hand Into Darkness

Going back through Mom’s early emails is like stumbling upon a treasure chest full of warning signs I should have paid attention to but didn’t. Hindsight is hilarious like that. The red flags were so glaringly obvious, they might as well have been neon signs flashing “RUN!” Yet, there I was, willingly walking into the romantic labyrinth she had set up, armed with nothing but naive optimism and a misplaced belief in people’s better natures.