We are incredibly proud parents to two wonderful daughters. Juliette is a force in this world. With her beautifully positive energy, she spread fun, love and happiness to those around her and she continues to do so now.
Losing my brother to a substance use disorder taught me things I never wanted to learn. Things nobody prepares you for. Things that will change you in ways you never thought possible. It taught me that you can love someone so much it physically hurts-and still not be able to save them. It taught me that you can mourn someone you love long before they are physically gone, and no one tells you how helpless that feels. How humiliating.
I remember telling my coworker I had to leave, recognizing that he instantly knew what I had learned; I remember seeing a sunset so beautiful that words don't do it justice, as if grandma was telling me, "I'm better now," on my way back to the hotel, where I'd spend hours crying, wishing I could see her one more time, wishing I could squeeze cancer like a rotting orange, ridding this earth of its putrid juices.
I hurt so terribly that our lovely, loving, clever, compassionate, thoughtful, slightly goofy, funny, gentle girl no longer has the chance to be, to exist in the now.
