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This episode is equal parts howl-laugh funny and gut-honest. Tara grew up on the move, addiction, violence, VA psych-ward parents, and a cross-country “escape” to North Dakota, then found stability with her grandmother and, eventually, herself. She talks teen pregnancy and an open adoption, choosing partners who felt “protective” until it slid into control, and the thief-in-the-night breakups that followed.

Through it all: art as medicine, code-switching as survival, and therapy as the slow, steady re-parenting she didn’t know she needed. Today, with grown kids, a good man, and a creative community, Tara’s practicing the soft skills, slowing down, self-talk that isn’t savage, and letting joy be ordinary. If you’ve ever restarted from scratch (or wanted to), this one will land.