I wrote these words after learning of the death of Liam Galaty, a beloved 14-year-old boy whom I had known and loved since he was in preschool. Liam lived his life with compassion, dedication, joy, and courage. He died in his home on December 18, 2017. His death shook us to our core. The only thing I knew to do that night after my family had gone to bed, the only thing that brought me any comfort, was to write. I delivered these words of remembrance at Liam’s funeral on December 23 and later to the student body at his school. With the permission of his parents, Tanya Newkirk and Mike Galaty, I share my words here in our hope that those who have experienced loss by suicide may find some comfort and that others, especially young people, who need to hear how much they matter in the world will feel the web of love surrounding them. [Read more…]
Jackson, Mississippi was still thawing when Former Governor William Winter took the stage for our state’s bicentennial celebration and the opening of the country’s first state-funded and state-sponsored civil rights museum. 
The story of my son’s birth was mysteriously erased from my computer. Centimeters of dilation lost, timeline lost, contraction history lost, direct quotes from my doctor lost. The medical story, the story of facts and numbers, vanished. 
