"Half the truth is often a great lie." -Benjamin Franklin

I learned to deal in half-truths early in my life. I heard my parents tell them, to each other, to their friends, to me. My alcoholic father, my child-of-an-alcoholic mother, were brilliant half-truth-tellers. I learned to obfuscate and fabricate, I learned the art of denial and secrecy, at the feet of masters, who learned at the feet of masters, who...well, you get the picture.

But it wasn't my true nature. I have always had an open, trusting heart, an almost perverse willingness to lay it bare, get it out, let it in. And in limiting personal boundaries, I have hurt and been hurt, I have disappointed and been disappointed, been both foolish and fooled. But, in the words of Pete Townshend, I won't get fooled again.

I want the whole truth, nothing but the truth...or nothing. It's the only way I can make a clear choice. It's the only way I can operate in integrity. It's the only way I can trust, and be trustworthy. It's the only way I can make the progress I want to make, to become the woman I think I am.

I know it's hard. I really do know.