EPISODE SUMMARY
Before 8 am
Before 8 am
It’s a quiet morning—until it isn’t.
Before the clock even reaches 8am, a mother’s voice breaks the silence of a house already on edge. It’s not yelling that causes the rupture—it’s the years of pressure, the mental lists running unchecked, the sleep-deprived balancing act between caregiving, income-earning, and emotional containment.
In a single breath, what was meant to stay inside spills into the room, startling her partner, freezing her child, and unraveling a morning routine that was already hanging by a thread.
The rest of the episode is not about fixing what broke—but facing it. We flash between past and present, between her own childhood echoes and the realization that she may be repeating cycles she swore to break.
She finds a quiet moment of redemption not in apology, but in breath. In creating something beautiful for a client, she’s reminded that she still holds value—even when she's unraveling.
And while there’s no hug, no cinematic repair, the final panel shows her stepping outside—into morning light, into grace, into trying again.
Before 8 am
Calm Before the Storm
“…my voice cracked the morning open.
Not from thunder,
but from the sharp edge
of too much held in,
for too many days.”
Not from thunder,
but from the sharp edge
of too much held in,
for too many days.”
Before 8 am
Emotional Explosion
“I didn’t mean to raise it—
not like that.”
not like that.”
Before 8 am
Emotional Backstory
“I wanted peace.
Instead, I passed on
the inheritance I never meant to give…”
Instead, I passed on
the inheritance I never meant to give…”
Before 8 am
“You nailed it—thank you.”
“I don’t want to change them—
I want to sit with them…”
I want to sit with them…”
Before 8 am
Resolution, Not Repair
“This is not yours to fix,”
she whispers—to them. To herself.
“Maybe the work today
isn’t fixing what cracked,
but forgiving what surfaced.”
isn’t fixing what cracked,
but forgiving what surfaced.”
“Still soft.
Still trying.
And still—
I carry on.”
Still trying.
And still—
I carry on.”
Glenda Beaulieu 2025
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