The Confessions

"My son is thirty and still thinks his grandmother on my side was a warm loving woman. She was cruel to me my entire childhood. I protected him from that truth. Sometimes I wonder if I was protecting him or protecting her memory."

"I told my family I could not make it home for Christmas one year because of work. I stayed home alone by choice. I just needed to not perform happiness for one year. Nobody knows that. They think I was miserable being away. I was the most peaceful I had been in years."

"I confessed here about the argument that kept me from saying goodbye to my best friend. I cannot change that. But I wrote to his wife last month. Just to say I thought about him often and that I was sorry for the argument and the silence. She called me. We talked for an hour. Something healed."

"I borrowed two hundred pounds from my mother when I was twenty three telling her it was for a deposit on a flat. I spent it on a holiday. She never asked for it back. She passed away four years later never knowing. I think about it every single time I see a photo of her."

"I wrote a negative anonymous review of my former employer that was not entirely fair. I was angry when I wrote it. That review is still up there and still affecting their recruitment. I have considered removing it and have not."

"I confessed here three months ago about money I had borrowed from a friend and never repaid. Last week I transferred the full amount with a note that simply said sorry it took so long. They replied within an hour. We are having dinner next week. Karma moves."

"When my colleague got the promotion I had been working towards I felt genuinely pleased when their first major project struggled. I did not want them to fail. But some part of me was relieved that it was hard for them. I am not proud of that part."

"I confessed here about never calling my mother enough. I have called her every Sunday since. She has not said anything about the change in frequency. Neither have I. We just talk. About nothing much. It is the best thing I have done in years."

"I confessed about my secret savings account. I told my husband last Tuesday. I showed him the balance and explained why I had started it. He was quiet for a long time and then he said he was glad I had it. The relief of being fully known is extraordinary."

"I did not stand up for a friend when a group of people were being unkind about them behind their back. I stayed quiet and let it happen because I was new to the group and afraid. My silence was complicity. They eventually told me what had been said and I pretended I had not been there."