Letters to My Daughter: Come
Dear D, A friend recently told me about spanking their little girl, who is around your age. At one particular point in the story, I felt my throat constrict and I noticed a tingly feeling in the top of my head. Once alone, I played the scene over and over in my head. “I asked her to pick up her clothes, and she said, ‘no,’” he recounted, “so I told her, ‘Come here.’ And when she came, I bent her over my knee and spanked her.” A slight feeling of nausea sometimes comes over me when I witness or imagine a spanking, but this story hit me so hard I sobbed myself to sleep that night. I knew this picture had touched something deep within me, but nothing specific came into focus. My brain must have continued processing while I slept, though, because this morning a memory sat next to me as I woke, patiently awaiting my attention. I am standing in front of a man I know and admire, dimpled hands extended and eyes lifted toward his face. My sister and I have been out climbing around on the hills ...
