Nine days.

Dear readers, 

Nine days till the walk begins. Can you believe it?! My heart is racing, my palms are starting to sweat, and my nerves are going crazy. I'm putting my heart out there and sharing my story to hopefully help another person. If I can just help one person, that will be enough. 

I was talking to my husband the other night and he made a comment that made me really think. He said, "People just need a reason to connect with others." And I agree. Our connections with people is what gets us through and they are what matter. Families, friends, neighbors...those are connections we crave. 

Here's a secret I have, I'm lonely. I left Utah in May 2013 to move to Texas. I left a wide group of friends and now I don't have too many people I connect with. I'm lonely. I crave friends, real friends. Real people I can share my story with, people I can laugh with, people I can do ridiculous things with. That's one of my secrets. 

But we don't have to live in a world like that - we can drop barriers and we can develop relationships with a coworker, with a stranger, with a family member. 

I want to develop relationships with those around me, I want to create friendships, I want to live a very fulfilled life full of love, happiness, and laughter. Don't you? 

I find strength in friends. And this is what this walk is for me - a way for us to strengthen each other. It's a way for us to make connections and to be there for each other. It's a way for us to remember how to laugh once again after heartache, how to bond with one other. We need each other. Maybe we won't be so lonely in this big wide world. 

A goal I have is to create a support group called 'We Care.' 'We Care' is there for those who have struggled with suicidal thoughts, for those who have lost loved ones to suicide, and for all others who need that support. 

I remember the following months after my friend's passing, I struggled. I struggled a lot and I didn't have a whole lot of people to talk to who understood. But then I found a support group in the town I was living at that time and I went one night. It was absolutely beautiful. It was an evening full of heartache, full of tears, but full of hope. For the first time in the grieving process I really felt I found people who understood what I was going through. Different things I struggled with, they did too. It was like a burden was lifted off of my shoulders. And I'm so grateful for that. I only went that once to that particular group, but that night changed my life. I wasn't so alone anymore. And I was so grateful for that, still am to this day. 

And I want to be that hope for someone else. Will you help me?

Love,
Megan