blame them for nothing, forgive them for everything

An amazing quote by Mary J. Blige! I wish that I could take credit for it, but the honest girl I am must give her rightful props, lol.
My parents were young when they had me... teenagers, only a few years older than Joshua. Can I honestly say that they did the best they could. Damn right! Were mistakes made, well of course...along the way all parents, with the best of best intentions make mistakes. And today, I have the utmost respect for them. I admire what they were able to do with what they had! My mother and father were able to give me a happy childhood. They sacrificed, they worked hard, they struggled, they were victorious at raising 5 pretty well adjusted kids! I think back and in retrospect I believe I wore some of the trial and error spills. I was the oldest, I was strong minded, I was aware of the extent of some of their problems... I suppose all of these together make for some of the sour experiences I may have absorbed. I find that I have had some things come back to haunt me... nothing too dreadful... I see women all of the time who really had it bad. I have spent some time in therapy, no reason for that to be secret. I have had some relationship issues, I have accumulated my share of self defeating behaviours. And to understand in the course of change that no one is to blame, not me, not the parents I adore, well it was in a sense freedom in itself! I needed to learn this! I needed to apply it and master it as a craft... blame no one!
I have had a couple of failed relationships that I can choose to look at in a more positive note if I live with this in mind. There are no fingers to point there either, it was not my fault for those patterns, it was not their faults for not being "the right one" for me. I needed those relationships you could say... to get to the ME that is here today... those people who I did care about at one time, well, they are still a part of me too. So why carry around a burden of hate when I can chalk it up to experience and move forward.
Blame them for nothing, forgive them for everything. I was not sure I would ever get here but the view is beautiful... I think I may stick around!