Grandma was right after all.
It took Anna years to finally make up her mind. After her beloved grandmothers funeral, something in her snappedshe grabbed her phone, looked up the train schedule, and booked a ticket back to her hometown. She needed to face her past head-on and make peace with it once and for all.
The train raced through endless fields and woodlands, the familiar landscapes of her childhood slipping away behind her. Anna stared out the window, lost in thought. Maybe it was worth trying to forgive her mother. After all, as Grandma used to say, sometimes letting go is the only way to shed the weight of old grudges and move forward.
Her heart pounded as the train pulled into the small station of her hometown. Her steps were hesitant, as if her feet refused to carry her forward. She walked slowly, mechanically, pausing every few paces to catch her breath.
Finally, she stood before the little wooden cottage where shed once livedwhere her mother had later died. The place looked abandoned, the windows covered with old newspapers, the shutters creaking in the wind. Her chest tightened as memories of happier times with her father and brothers flooded back. Those moments were the only threads still tying her to this place. A heavy padlock hung on the door, looking as if one good tug would make the whole thing crumble. But Anna didnt test it. She just sat on the rickety porch, lost in thought for hours. Then, abruptly, she stood and walked back to the station. Did she feel lighter? She did. It was as if her soul had finally let go.
Ten years earlier, Anna had been sitting at home, eyes fixed on her computer screen, her mind wandering back to a childhood that had long since become a distant, painful memory. Her fingers absently toyed with a ballpoint pen left over from her school days.
Her father was gonevanished forever, leaving behind three children and a wife drowning in grief and loneliness. Anna remembered it all too well: the stale stench of cheap alcohol, her mothers endless tears, her older brothers constant whining, and herselfjust a five-year-old girl clinging to Grandmas knees, feeling utterly lost. No more bedtime stories, no more lullabies, no more gentle hands smoothing her hair.
*Why then?* shed often wondered. Why did life take him when they needed him most?
And now, years later, the message cameher mother was dead.
*”Are you even going to the funeral?”* Grandmas voice was sharp, furious. She stood there, hands on her hips, glaring at Anna with disappointment.
Anna looked up from the screen, her stare cold. *”Why should I? I hated her! That woman… Alcohol turned her into a monster who didnt care about her own daughter!”*
*”She was your mother!”* Grandma snapped. *”Even if things were bad, you still owe her some respect!”*
*”Respect?”* Anna scoffed. *”After Dad died, she couldnt even take care of us! You and Auntie June were the ones who did everything. She just drowned herself in booze!”*
Grandma sighed, struggling for words. *”Maybe she was suffering. Maybe grief broke her.”*
*”Suffering?”* Anna gave a bitter laugh. *”People suffer in different ways, Gran. You can grieve and still livestill raise your kids like a decent person. Or you can disappear into your own misery and forget everything else. She chose the second option. To her, we were just an excuse for another drink.”*
The old anger flared again, sharp and familiar. Years of neglect, indifference, helpless rage. Her mother had never cared about her childrens lives, never celebrated their wins or comforted their losses. The pain twisted inside Anna, tangled with the hatred she couldnt shake.
Her father had always smoothed things over, but without him, life had become unbearable. His younger sister, Auntie June, had stepped in, moving the kids to her own home. And so began a new chaptera new town, new faces.
Yet thoughts of her mother haunted Anna, stirring up shame alongside the anger. How could she feel such loathing for the woman whod given her life? Who else was meant to love a child unconditionally?
But reality always dragged her back. The memories of feeling unwanted, abandoned. The coldness that had left wounds too deep to heal.
Finally, Grandma placed a hand on her shoulder. *”I understand, love, I do. But sometimes… sometimes saying goodbye helps. Maybe going back will give you a chance to forgive herto let go.”*
*”No,”* Anna said sharply. *”I wont go. Dont ask me to.”*
Now Grandma was gone too.
Anna returned from her hometown, turning it all over in her mind. Memories of her childhood resurfaced, filling the void her fathers death had left. She wanted to leave the bitterness behindto start fresh, unshackled from the past.
Grandma had been right all along. Forgiveness wasnt about the other personit was about freeing herself. Letting go meant stepping forward without looking back. Anna knew challenges lay ahead, but now she was ready to face them, open to whatever came next.
That trip had changed everything. Shed learned the weight of old resentmentsand the lightness of laying them down. From now on, shed live freely, holding onto the good while leaving the rest behind.
