ARIES!!! Thank you for sharing- I LOVE this story!!
So well done. I haven't had quite the same situation with my parents but can greatly empathize with that looking in the mirror "positive post-mortem" - how wonderful is it?! It made me proud and meant a lot when my bf turned to me after our Thgvg day with my family and said "well, there was some tension, but none of it came from you or kept on because of you." Never could do that when I was drinking.
Thanks for sharing such a positive experience. And great job on 11 months!