From Earthquakes to Empathy: Healing Generational Fault Lines

Breaking cycles of trauma through resilience and love.

The author’s photo of herself near her father & the rest of the family.

I broke when I was a child.
Broken families. Broken promises. Broken hearts.
I try to accept my fault…fault lines. Fault passed through family lines.

A fault line is a crack in the earth…pressure builds. Explodes — an earthquake shakes, a volcano erupts, or a mountain rises.

Fault. Flaw. Weakness. Blame. Shame. Broken.

Broken doesn’t mean forever.
I spent years covering the cracks.

Ashamed.

Still, sometimes, I feel a shiver down the fault line.

The early warning system is intact.
I’m healing.
Learning from the past.

“C’mon, I can’t pay that much rent!” I told my older sister as I landed on Boardwalk with her two hotels.

The four of us were spread out on the gold and blue braided rug bent over a game of Monopoly.

It was Good Friday, March 27, 1964 — a holiday from school. My two sisters, little brother, and I spent the evening at a friend’s house while our parents were in Anchorage for a rare night…