Having walked the path of estrangement from my biological family for nearly two decades, I have found that this is far too often a subject that goes underground and is unrelatable but one which requires deep re-organizing, deep healing, ongoing re-identification and becoming. I am compelled to cultivated a safe space to ask others to lay the burden downs of abandonment, betrayal, and begin to reclaim and name the self-honoring that the work takes to live in the world without those who live and have lived without us or those we have chosen to live without. To speak about forgiveness. To speak about reclamation of self. To speak about loss. To speak about reclamation of self in this specific way. Most importantly, to not turn away. To turn toward. * Jill has an MSW, an M.A. in Writing, she's been an Activist and Organizer and considers this conversation a portal to our healing.