Walking on Eggshells, Line by Line

A handwritten checklist in a notebook listing household “failures” such as “Still grease on plates” and “Bed not made”

She had this diary, but it wasn’t for remembering fun stuff or happy times.

Nope.

It was all about the times I messed up.

Every little mistake, every word she didn’t like, every time I didn’t meet her impossible standards—she wrote it down like it was some kind of crime.

I found it once, left open on the table like she wanted me to see it.

Pages filled with my so-called failures. The time I forgot to take the bins out. The time I was five minutes late. The time I didn’t answer my phone fast enough. The way I said something that she didn’t like.

She kept score, and I was always losing.

It felt like she never missed a chance to point out my mistakes. But when it came to the good stuff? Forget about it. It’s like it never even happened.

No matter how hard I tried, it was never enough.

I started second-guessing everything I did. Every word I spoke. Every move I made. I learned to walk carefully, to anticipate her moods, to avoid adding another entry to her diary.

But no matter what, she’d always find something.

It made me feel like I couldn’t do anything right.

Like I was always walking on eggshells around her.

Like I wasn’t a person—just a list of things she could hold against me.

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