Dear Suicide, A year ago today, I deeply wanted to leave this world. Nothing made sense anymore, I felt like a waste of space. I was in Columbus, Ohio, helping my best friend move for vet school. I was 8 days shy of my 38th birthday. Ive never in my life been so scared of myself and what I was capable of if I was left alone too long with my thoughts. Being a photographer you often have to become a chameleon to your situations and environments, so people around me never knew how deeply I was hurting. I seemed to be fine just going through a “rough patch” but nothing too serious. I often remember hearing about my friends that committed suicide who were the ones that seemed to be the most happy and it came as a surprise. I also thought about my mother who has not yet passed, that she cannot lose two daughters in her lifetime and that I would do it after she dies. Luckily I got through the darkest hours of the day and survived because of two close friends I reached out to that morning, and my therapist. I am so grateful for having that support. And for asking for help. A year later I am a completely different woman because I survived that. I survived living the hardest day of my life. I don’t even remember what deep pain like that feels like and I hope I never experience that again. I got through it all with a lot of hard work, I asked for help, and I was open about it to get the support I needed. I hope anyone that’s struggling like this can find the support they need and if they don’t, please contact me. Life can be SO BEAUTIFUL and worth living and I just wanted to share a little piece of today, a year later, as proof that we got this❤️