Dear Professor Christine Blasey Ford,

Like millions of women, I watched you testify about the worst day of your life. Millions of us identified with your fear and wondered if we would be brave enough to wrestle ourselves past that grip of terror if we were in your shoes. Millions of us watched how you held onto the tears that wanted to come up; we know where that place is in the body — the place that pushes down on the rising tide of remembered pain. We know how hard that is. We’ve been holding onto our tears for a long time — some of us, like you, for decades.

I wonder how you feel now that Brett M. Kavanaugh’s hand — the one you say clamped down on your mouth when you were 15 — is now on the scales of justice. I wonder if you feel that everything you went through wasn’t worth it, that it accomplished nothing. I hope your family and friends are assuring you that you did make a difference in this country. You did move the needle, even though so many who politely listened to you decided to ignore your story. I want to add my voice and let you know that I speak for crowds of women who are only now feeling that they can speak out and reveal their own stories.