Unknown by My Own Family

Dear Delyara, I do not think my family knows who I am. They know my role. They know my history. They know the edited version of me that functions at gatherings and answers questions and keeps the peace. But I do not think they know my actual inner world. They do not know what keeps me up at night. They do not know how often I doubt myself. They do not know what I have grieved in silence. Sometimes I sit in rooms full of people who have known me all my life and feel completely untranslated.