For a long time, I was in denial and convinced myself that I had not done anything wrong".
Had I been more aware of the connection, I might have avoided the story, or been unproductively cautious, so maybe I used a little bit of denial to make myself believe that the story was, instead, about a broken couple, stuck in a successful collaborative partnership, with strikingly different ideas about how to respond to catastrophe.
In my denial I let myself think everything will be back to normal.
For a while there, I went into denial mode, telling myself that I didn't actually miss this woman at all.
I spent the next several months in denial -- allowing myself to be manipulated, spending hours messaging someone because I feared his reactions if I didn't respond immediately, and accepting gifts from someone with a very clear ulterior motive, but one that I just couldn't see.
Parent Shaw wrote: 1. Teaches 2. Nasty 3. Marriage 4. Political career 5. Poverty 6. Self-denial 7. Language 8. Myself 9. Money 10.
I grew up there and find myself in denial that the first stop for ragged refugees is now a destination for trendy diners.
Each time Daisey sputtered hedges, excuses, and half-hearted denials, I found myself cringing.
I found myself in some denial that, as I told my wife, "God is going to take my new buddy".
I dispatched those observations into a mental file labeled "Denial" even as I forced myself to admit my once fiercely independent mother was losing herself.
