There’s an age for all of us when innocence dies. It’s sad, it’s dark, but it’s a fact.

When that inevitable moment comes, we form protective shells, almost as a defense mechanism to deal with the new influx of both good and bad emotions and experience. Love. Betrayal. Passion. Heartbreak.

Because it’s that kind of introspective Thursday and because I remember Sally’s particular struggle with growing up and realizing your heroes are regular people, I’m choosing to interpret her declaration above as deeper than it may seem. She’s so many people–she’s the good daughter, the independent teenager, the reluctant rebel, the blossoming woman. Sally is Daddy’s little girl, but she’s also the keeper of his darkest secrets. She is her mother’s second chance at youth, battling the desire to grow up versus the terror when she finally did.

We are all Sally. You can fight it, try to pick one person in your raging soul, but where’s the fun in that?

With love from all of us in here,
Sally