A part of me wants to “dislike” this post and dislike Talia but I can’t. The part of this article that really resonates with me is when she talks about her mother. As a mother myself I can see why mom would get angry about being so exposed but what I see is that daughter, like many other daughters that needed a role model. I am a single mom and I can say I was Talia’s mom. Too trusting, involved in some very poor decisions that involved my kids but I got out of it and survived (nobody was killed and that’s a plus). What I see in Talia are some of the traits I see in my own daughter as she grows up. Questioning and wondering why events happened as they did. I so wish that Talia’s mom can forgive her daughter and realize that indirectly she shaped this young lady into being the catalyst that helped a lot of people. If there is a lesson in all of this is that you can survive and it’s important that even when you have to deal with judgment from mob (I can admit I was one of them) you can overcome the adversity and you live to see the sun again. Great writing to both young ladies, Talia Jane and Lauren Smiley!