Gwen Hecht
Mine was a sad and lonely childhood, as I was left to fend for myself against uncaring, cold, abandoning, and terribly abusive adults, both family members and strangers. As my life unfolded, there were too many losses to count: innocence, childhood, opportunities, Mother, family, and losses due to death. By my late twenties, I knew more dead people than live people. Life would have been unbearable without love. As I look at my life from the vantage point of being sixty-plus years old, I recognize that I was fortunate to have been well and properly loved by three good men and to have loved them deeply with a combination of awe, wonder, respect, adoration, and passion. They changed something about me and what was to come in my life. Each man’s love provided a building block that lifted me higher, changing my vantage point, thereby changing my perspective and helping me to create a vision of what I wanted from my life. I am grateful for the lessons learned and the outcomes changed because they loved me. And there are the guides, who come to us in many forms. Wasn’t each man my teacher, as I was his student? And was not I his teacher, just as he was my student? Guides to each other, we are changed, hopefully, for the better. Ultimately, that is our choice to make: how will Mother, Father, a lover, or a painful or traumatic experience alter us? Each person makes his own choice in that regard. I chose to align with my potential and my spirit, and I’m grateful I did.
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