Monday, December 28, 2009

Day 19 - Apologies


My daughter and I had a fight. She's a teenager and I'm her mother, so not very surprising. We snapped at each other. I don't know who started it but we both continued it. It wasn't pretty. It was over the phone. We both agreed we needed some time to reflect so we said our good-byes and hung up. And then later, after I had cooled down, I called her back to apologize. I explained why I felt I reacted the way I did but quickly added that didn't excuse my behavior. I should have handled it much better. I apologized. And then she apologized. And then we had a heartfelt, true conversation about the conflict. The apology made our interaction real, productive and genuine. Who knew the awesome power of an apology? Who knew an apology could bring me joy?

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