Learning How to Forgive Marjorie J. Garcia Sanchez

Until now, it has never occurred to me that a spider taught me how to forgive.

In all honesty, I never knew how to feel about my father. I loved him because I was supposed to. But I feared him even more. I feared him like I feared spiders. Perhaps those minuscule creatures are harmless, but the very sight of them cause the hairs on my body to stand up. The sight of my father always caused my stomach to turn upside down. His tone was always menacing and thunderous. His fists were always clenched and threatening. There was rarely a moment when the sinister fire in his eyes stopped burning.

There is only one vivid memory of my childhood when I stayed at my mother’s home under my father’s care. My parents were separated for reasons I was unsure of at that moment. Though, I was certain hat my father caused my mom a lot of pain, both physically and mentally. I recall that a family emergency left her with no choice but to leave my two older brothers and me in the care of my father for a few days.

Amongst the days I spent in my father’s care, he scavenged through my mother’s documents and personal belongings. It was like a scene from Law & Order: SVU, my favorite show as a child. I had developed enough deductive reasoning skills to...