In Dallas, I was also alone all day without a job or a car. This was important to my recovery from my childhood. I no longer had to “make nice” with service oriented jobs, so my guard was down. I picked up “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. She tells readers to take on 3 tasks to boost their creative energies: write 3 full pages stream-of-consciousness each morning, take a walk every day, and go on an excursion alone once a week. All of the above led to my unconscious seeping into consciousness, and I began to remember more than I had in years. Now I wrote what I hadn’t dared to write in the early diaries, and I did so in the stream-of-consciousness without censor. Sometimes I’d be at it 12 hours a day, unable and unwilling to let the memory rest. I wanted to remember the truth. The discipline came in doing the 3 pages every day, taking a walk, and going on an excursion, even if it was walking to the book store or to collect sunflowers. That’s also when I started painting, which provided an emotional balance for me after recalling abusive incidents from childhood. After 6 months, my husband was transferred to Kansas City.