Hello. I enjoyed reading this piece. Two passages of yours stood out for me:
First,
"Have you noticed that if you are outside nowadays and you are not wearing fluorescent pinks, greens or dayglow orange, than you could be mistook for a homeless person--especially, if you left the house wearing flannel and jeans without combing your hair?"
How true what you say. Such has become our U.S. society flaunting our materialistic side that we can't appreciate the inner self of another human being. It saddens me to see this. I reared my kids to look beyond that, not let it consume you and become a passion, and to strive for inner peace, not outer acceptance.
Second,
"...he has to see the truth of me and how much I really was holding in rather than going out on a limb, in order to hold us in an US."
Thanks @kimberlylane for sharing this. The more steemians I engage with, the more I see a connection we all have. We are all more alike than we care to admit.
Hope you have a great rest of your evening into the weekend.
To hold back to keep the peace, to not be subject to emotional blackmail, to not let one see you may overshadow them with your yet undiscovered brightness. To be pressed down, molded into something you can't recognize..just to keep the peace.
Thank you for reading and relating. I am happy there are those here that what I think about/write resonates, that in itself is a bright light :)