Thanks

There are people in this world who we catch on.  Snag an arm, a leg, a vail of fabric, as we wisp past in our trenches.  And sometimes they stick.  This is for all of the people who have stuck in my life.

My strength of character is not an innate essence.  My strength is pulled from you all.  Sucked up through the web of vessels that connect us.  Drawn from you and passing to you.  This is why I can do anything.  Survive anything.  And thrive through it all.  I am able to breathe because I have your arms to collapse in at the end of the day.  I am sappy and overjoyed and powerful because of you.

It is you who have given my daughter the best version of me.  I have waded in some things that seem so incredibly heavy, so darkly solitary that it would have been the easiest gift to float away in the hot tar of black and never return to myself.  But I could not.  You wouldn't let me.  Deeply you scraped into the pit and ripped me into the world of living.  Forcing me to move and think and feel. Throughout it I have been safe and protected.  Shielded from judgment and cruelty by the armor you have forged.  Safe and wanted, and so incredibly fulfilled.  

And so, to my personal army, I love you.  I thank you from whatever piece in me speaks most truth. You are valuable and honored forever in my heart.  Much love.