We were three women in a similar situation. We did not need to bring up the subject, as we were strangers or mere coworkers, but eventually it just surfaced like a stray leaf on the water. They knew what was burdening my heart long before I dared to mention it. We talked about travelling as a therapy and drawing the pain away. I could see how the desert and the sea had done for them the same thing they had done for me. We were close together then, and we knew we would survive.
“Don’t ever think that you are not beautiful,” they told me.