what? you too?

me. 
http://yourwingsofhope.blogspot.com/2011/06/wading-out-into-deep.html

{whoever that is}

i have shared my story and won't repeat.

just click on the word "me." above.

we share our stories because we feel we need to.

we want to prove our worth when we step into help others.

{i have actually been questioned and judged on how i am qualified to help...little miss "perfect life"... what good is she? - if they only knew.  so i share.}

we prove ourselves by sharing our pain.  

sad but true.  

what a GIFT our pain becomes....isn't that beautiful? 

  you know those opportunities.
you start to talk. surface stuff.
you might have known this person for years - or maybe just moments.
doesn't matter.
this time is different.
there is small talk of this and that...and slowly your soul tells you more is needed.

.... you start to share your story, you become a little more translucent - your struggles are revealed and right in front of you - eyes soften...walls come down.  this is a moment of healing, it is even a little magical if you ask me.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 
"What! You too? I thought I was the only one."
C.S. Lewis

 ....so worth it. 

we UNDERSTAND from a deeper personal level than one could possibly know at first glance.

however the REAL HELP comes when they know where we have been and can SEE THAT WE HAVE RISEN, 

we HAVE MOVED FORWARD through the hurt, 

we HAVE MADE THE DECISION to LIVE, LOVE and be a STORY of HOPE.

reality is this.

i don't know one thing about losing someone i love to suicide.

it is not comparable to anything i have ever experienced, and i won't fake that what i have experienced in life makes me all knowing and knowledgable. 

i am not. 

i won't say because i have known pain that i understand.

i don't understand.

i don't know the guilt. 

i don't know the isolation that comes from it.

or the shame...that is so un-necessary - but unavoidable when someone you love has ended their life.

i don't know what it is to travel back in time consistently and wonder the "what ifs"

i won't for ONE MINUTE stand here and think i can fix anything in the lives of those who have suffered this way.

i only know ONE THING - 
i love the people in my life who know this pain all too well.

and....that qualifies me. 

it gives me the right to offer the one wing i have....
to those who have lost.  to those who are struggling....to anyone that needs it.

really... it is all any of us can do.

plain and simple.

xoxo,
ang.