This is a blog I never thought I would write. I never saw this chapter falling into our family book.

Suicide does not start from the same place and I have also learned this thing robs from the masses. It's not just the family left with a gaping wound but the community. I have been in the grasp of this beast and never saw how much love was all around me. It doesn't want you to see. It's a cloak of darkness and the volume to its soundtrack is loud.

Last week our family was impacted by suicide. It took my beautiful nephew who I thought was the happiest kid on the planet.

Resilence I thought was the capacity to endure pain.... Now I learn to ask instead how I could become resilient. Resilience is the strength and speed of our response to adversity and I have also learned we can build it. Like lifting weights we must work at it daily... And it sucks! But only for a little while. When it becomes your new habit. This is a habit that will help you return from such brokenness. I am in the place that pulling the covers (like a lead blanket) over my head is the better option to hide from the pain.

But hiding never solves the problem and the problem then thinks it's in charge... To hell with that!!!

I come from a long family line of strong women. My grandmother gave birth to 12 kids and raised them all in a one bedroom house. Each of those 12 kids went on to do great things and have beautiful families. In the chaos and wreckage from our loss, I was reminded who we come from and nothing would break us... not even this devasting blow to our hearts and our souls.

Humans are evolutionarily wired for both connection and grief.

I have watched Joey's parents Genna and Trace Thomsen RISE up and reach out to help RISE others. Their door is open to all. No question is off the table.

We need to talk about the heaviness, fear, and despair we feel. I know I have in the past hide mine and I won't anymore. We are more alike than different. 

My door is open and my phone is on. The national hotline for suicide is 1-800-273-8255. You have someone ready to help you find the light out of the darkness.

Please hug those in your life today and tell them you love them. You never know what people are going through in their life. Be kinder. Be MORE.