Dear Aunt Em,
    

Thank you. I don’t expect you to identify with any part of this letter because we have been separated for so long and we have both changed so much, but thank you for all the lessons you taught me and your betrayal that ultimately lead me on my yellow brick road to my version of the Emerald City. It’s beautiful really and if I had stayed in Kansas, I don’t think I would’ve made the friends I have made or have had the opportunities I have now. Living under your roof was pure torture. I can’t imagine myself living there anymore, but thanks to the fact that I did live under your roof, I was taken away by a tornado (of sorts) that eventually lead me to my new life in Oz and lemme tell you -- it’s better than the place I would’ve ended up.
    

The tornado was a scary experience. It wasn’t some little gust of wind to blow a couple things out of proportion -- oh no! It ripped my biological family, the unconditional love that came with them, my mother, and my purity from me, broke it, and dropped me off in some new place where multiple sets of Munchkins greeted me with open arms. Some parents wouldn't be lucky enough to call me theirs, but when I finally met the right pair, I killed their self doubt that they wouldn’t have another child. They got to raise two instead, however: me and Toto! Sure, I was scared at first, but eventually I met my new friends: Glinda the Good (too good for her own good), the “brainless” Scarecrow (the girl who never gave their brain enough credit), the “heartless” Tinman (a blunt person with one of the biggest hearts I know), and the “cowardly” Lion (who actually had a scary sense of confidence in beating someone up). With these people in tow all along the way, helping me stay on the path to my version of the Emerald City, my adventure has stayed comfortable and tolerable even though my versions of the Wicked Witch of the West lurk at every corner.
    

Despite my nightmares of the Wicked Witch creating hurdles everywhere I go, if I had stayed in Kansas, it could’ve taken every single opportunity that my little naive, imaginative mind could think of to do whatever I wanted to do. Toto and I were swept into a life that every kid could want and saved me from a life of sorrow and struggle. I am free from the shackles of poverty that shackled me in my past life. I am no longer the kid who didn’t want friends over at his house in fear of being judged of what I didn’t own since I was poor. I am no longer the kid who kept to himself half the time he was at school. I am a flower among the weeds of despair that sprouted around me in an effort to take all that I had and kill me, but they did not prevail -- I wouldn't let them!
    

Aunt Em, you are one of those weeds. It’s very hard to explain because I know I thanked you for putting me on this track, but there’s no way I could ever thank someone like you for what you did to me at such a young age. I won’t disclose the horrors you put me through in the rooms of your big house, but I will say that I hope my time away from you gave you enough time to think about what you did. I have learned to store those horrors away, but you’ve messed me up directly and indirectly: directly by psychologically messing me up to the point where I cringe at peoples’ touch when it’s not welcomed and indirectly by taking my mother away from me and having me cling on to any sense of love that I experience now. I will admit, you were a worthy adversary, but like those other weeds, I didn’t let you prevail and now I’m writing you this letter on my way to an even better life! I’m writing this letter on my way to a life you can only dream of now! I’m writing this letter on my way to my Emerald City!
    

The Emerald City. Oh, what beauty! A place of endless wonders and opportunities. Leaving Kansas, I have come to know what true love means through the friends I have made and the Munchkins who welcomed me home. Home. What a beautiful word. The tornado planted me in an uncomfortable place that slowly grew on me like moss growing in a cave -- yes, something can grow in the dark! Thanks to you, I have a future whereas if I had stayed I wouldn’t have had what I have now: Glinda the Good, Toto, The Scarecrow, The Tinman, The Lion, the Munchkins, and people of Emerald City -- none of which I would’ve been able to call my own. I’m not giving you reasons to justify what you did -- don’t get that confused! Thanks to you, I am free. I pressed on and although the tornado was scary, it was only temporary because they can only last for so long.
    

I’m not promising everyone a pair of ruby slippers, or a Toto, or a Glinda the Good, The Scarecrow, or The Tinman like I received thanks to your evil deeds. You have given me the voice that I didn’t have back then -- it’s screaming to be let out as I would be doing if I met you again! You have given me the voice to tell other Dorothies in need of saving that there are untold treasures in their future if they just press on past this dastardly phase in their life thanks to other Aunt Ems. Dorothies, I look to you if you’re reading this: don’t give up or people like Aunt Em will celebrate. Find peace like I did. Find your yellow brick road. Find your Emerald City!

The tornado has subsided, the Wicked Witches will all eventually die, and there is no place like home. Goodbye Aunt Ems. Goodbye to the Wicked Witches looming our depictions of the Emerald City. Goodbye to the tornadoes that rip our families, our sanity, our purity, and the happiness from us. Goodbye loneliness. Goodbye sadness. You have no power over me anymore Aunt Em. I am happy and content on my Yellow Brick Road now and no amount of hurdles will keep me from my Emerald City Aunt Em. I realize not a lot of people will forgive their Aunt Ems, but I forgive you. Begone with you, however for someone (I couldn’t find who) once said “breaking someone’s trust is like crumpling up a perfect piece of paper. You can smooth it over but it’s never going to be the same again.” I hope you have enough common sense to understand that. I have to get back to skipping now so…

Have a good life,
Dorothy