Today, I'm hopping on a plane to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city I haven't set foot in for over 40 years.
But this isn't just another work trip.
This is a journey I've been calling in for over six years. A soul mission. A full-circle moment.
"Because sometimes, the places we need to revisit the most� Are the ones we've spent a lifetime trying to forget."
Ever since I realized how deeply our most formative years shape who we become, I've been feeling a pull to go back.
And my childhood? It was filled with adversity after adversity. Experiences that I wouldn't wish for any child to ever endure.
Both of my parents worked full-time, and I didn't realize until years later that I didn't get enough food as a child. I had a super high metabolism, just like my daughter now, and most days I'd wake up with both parents at work, pour myself cereal, and head to school with a tiny bologna sandwich to get me through the day.
I was hungry. On most days.
And one day, I did something I carried shame for most of my life: I stole food from the other kids. The good stuff� Doritos, Reese's, Fruit roll-ups. Because I was starving.
But instead of being met with compassion, I was shamed. Publicly. Deeply. By the head rabbi himself.
"Not one adult asked why a little girl might be stealing food. They just branded me as a thief."
And that's the thing about childhood trauma, it doesn't just disappear. It freezes. It stays lodged inside of us until we're ready to go back, feel it, face it, and set it free.
Coming Full Circle: The Healing Journey
So today, when I land, I'm taking an Uber straight to that school. I'm walking those halls, standing in the cafeteria, peeking into the coatroom where I used to take what I wasn't given, and I'm picking up my girl of yesterday.
? Bringing Little V Home
I'm bringing little V home.
I want to close the loop on the story that shaped so much of my identity.
Places I Need to Revisit:
- ??The auditorium where I searched for parents who never came
- ??The lunchroom where the "challah Nazi" would only let me buy one roll even when I was starving
- ??The coatroom where desperation led to shame
Maybe I'll sit with the new principal and share what happened there� how that school shaped me, broke me, disconnected me from my identity. How I felt more accepted in a Christian church than I ever did in a Jewish institution.
Not to point fingers, but to offer perspective. To spark change. To remind educators that children act out when their basic human needs aren't being met.
"I know those days are long gone. The people are likely gone too. But the impact still lives in me."
This chapter is ready to close.
And little V? It's time to set her free.
