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Mishell Hernandez's avatar

My mother is Mongolian and was raised in Communist Mongolia speaking Russian from K-12. Obviously, growing up with my family has influenced what I consider dark or lighthearted and as an American I also learned how to put a positive spin on things so as to make the news palatable (or simply not talk about it all). But deep down, much like you, I don't get overwhelmed with the dark stuff and prefer to dive right into it early in the budding friendship because I prefer to know what we're made out of from the get go. I do feel like it's TMI in many cases but I decided some time ago that if someone considers it TMI then that's fine because now we know. I'd always rather know. It's also incredibly refreshing when others share their sad news . It's a privilege and let's me know what I'm made of too. Thanks for your post!

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Ellen Hendriksen's avatar

Olga, thank you so much for sharing my work. I’m so happy it’s been useful to you. This story is a total blast from my past--it's 100% true and makes me smile whenever I think of it. I never saw her again and hope her birth process was as comfortable as it could be. I'm a Texan transplanted to New England, so given the finding that disclosure should be "sustained, escalating, reciprocal, and personalistic," I definitely wasn't prepared to start with oiled perineums. Next time, I'll be ready!

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