Sad feels better than manipulated.

She was committed to lying to herself. Or to me.

I want to believe she was committed to lying to herself. Because that would make her story incredibly sad. But sad feels better than manipulated. If she was committed to lying to me, then it means that she knows a difference between two stories and chose to tell me the one that is false. To win favor from me, to gain comfort, to find compassion.To get me to intercede.

The first, somehow, feels more hopeful.

When I first talked to her, she expresse...