WSPW '15.

I interrupt this usual blog stream of photos and life updates to talk about a cause very near and dear to my heart.

This week is World Suicide Prevention Week.
Weather or not people know about it, take it seriously, or realize the scope of the issue, suicide is something that is very, very real.
WSPW, then, is a chance to talk openly and honestly about something that affects each of us in some way.




Can I throw some stats at you?

• Someone dies from suicide in the US every 13 minutes.
• This comes out to 38,000 lives per year.
• Not including the 250,000 yearly survivors.

• For people in my age group (15-24), suicide is the second leading cause of death.
• This number is more than those who die of cancer, AIDS, heart disease, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and lung disease COMBINED.
• Over 80% of those who take their own life at this age show clear warning signs.

I could go on, but honestly, if this doesn't hurt your heart then I don't know what I can do to make you understand how very real this is.

I have almost lost two people very close to me to suicide, one about a year before we became friends, and one with whom I was close at the time. And these are just the individuals I know about.

In serving in a position of leadership last year, I handled the topic of suicide with numerous different individuals on countless occasions.

I can honestly say that there were chapters in my life that I wasn't so sure I was going to make it through alive.

Now can I take a hot second to dissipate some myths?

• People who commit suicide are NOT inherently 'crazy'. 
• They may suffer from very real medical conditions and chemical imbalances, be going through unfathomable amounts of emotional turmoil, or have any number of other factors lingering just beneath the surface.
• Talking about suicide will NOT an individual more likely to make an attempt.
• Honestly, if you have reason to suspect someone may be suicidal, the likelihood is that it has already crossed their mind. You're not giving them ideas. Instead, you're giving them a safe space to process everything they're dealing with.
• People who talk about committing suicide are NOT always just looking for attention.
• A vast majority of those who end up making a suicide attempt have exhibited clear warning signs. Knowing the warning signs and trusting your gut when you're speaking with the people you care about could very easily save a life.

One of my favorite nonprofit organizations, To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), does a campaign every year for WSPW.

This year, the slogan is 

"We'll see you tomorrow."

Can I tell you how much I absolutely love this?

So many reasons, so much good, wrapped up into a simple, four word statement.

It establishes a personal connection between the speaker and recipient (We'll see you), it gives a concrete time (tomorrow; insinuating that 'you don't have to hold on for forever, one day at a time'), and it tells the recipient that they're not in it alone, that they are surrounded by a team of people who love them without limits, who need them in their lives, and who will fight alongside them.

The campaign then challenges you to find your own reasons to hold on.

I'll see you tomorrow because ___________________________ .

Why will you all see me tomorrow?

Because my story is not over yet. Because there is so much more I have been called to. I have not been so much 'pulled from' death as I have been 'redeemed for' life. Because I have chosen to fight every day, to have honest conversations with those around me, to spread awareness and bring hope in my own subtle ways, to use my voice to build others up, and to always believe in the promise of a better future.

I'll see you tomorrow.

And every tomorrow, Lord willing, for many years to come.

Because hope is real, help is real, and each of our stories carries so much importance.

BOOKS: my first love

This week's photos are brought to you by my first true love in life:
BOOKS.
I go through phases of reading a lot, and then not reading a lot, and then having to read so much for school that I never want to read anything ever again, and then I'm back to spending every spare second with my nose in a book because I love it. Well, this week I've fallen back in love.

First, <<<<<THOSE books came in the mail this week. Thank you, thriftbooks.com for potentially being the death, bankruptcy, and ruin of me.
{5 books, $15 = HAPPY JULIA!}
All of these are books I've been encouraged to read by business partners and mentors to work on personal and business development. Um, YES!


Then THESE>>>>> beautiful babies are part of what can only be described as an overwhelming pull back to the arbor. I am so ready to go back to school. I'm ready for the schedule and the routine, the checklists and late nights and homework and papers and activity and bustle and friends and just the way that life has unfolded for me there. My family knows that I love them more than words, but that right now, Spring Arbor is just my home, and it's where I want to be more than anything.
I am seriously SO blessed to be able to have found a community that makes me want to go back so badly.
Anyway, these are textbooks. Yeah. Devotional Classics, Mudhouse Sabbath, Life You've Always Wanted... textbooks.
{Along with Clinical Psychpharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple, obviously.}




I'm just really ready to go back. We start late in comparison to most other schools, and for the first time, I'm not moving in early (because I'm not a freshman or an upperclassman with a leadership position on a freshman floor like I was last year.)
Two weeks of work left, then a couple of days to pack and sleep and spend time with the people that I love, and then we pile everything in a truck and make the trek.

We had a 'last day' party at work for the summer help today. Maddie's last day was today, so they decided to just do both of us at once. Costco cake with our names on it, gourmet cupcakes for each of us, whole nine yards(:
Honestly, all of them are just sweethearts. Both last summer and now this summer I've been placed in work environments at Royal where I've meshed well with personalities, picked up on things quickly, and even managed to have a little bit of fun while getting paid to do work that a monkey could do.
Ideal? No. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Though I don't know what next summer holds, I do know that the past two years have been a hoot and a half out in Hudsonville.

the past month in photos

Ok, long story short, we had major laptop issues. It crashed without explanation and eventually we discovered that this laptop, that we bought 'new', had a refurbished, off-brand and semi-functional hard drive. This hard drive jostled and everything stopped working. We made some new friends at the tech place in Zeeland and some lifelong buddies at a repair center in Grand Rapids that got everything replaced for as little cash as possible.
So, with a non-functional laptop, blogging fell to the wayside. For over a month.
Then I wrote this blog post in its entirety and had the second half of it deleted sporadically. I was very very much not a fan.
So now, all at once, here's some pictures. They might not be exactly one a week, but they cover the month and a half that we've missed. This post will consider us caught back up on the 'photo a week for my year of being 20' escapade.
Deal? Deal.
So sit back and enjoy my summer!!

The kid and I ran the Zeeland Zoom 5k in late June. She kicked my butt, as was thoroughly expected, but I took all of 6 whole seconds off of my time from last year's race and came within a minute of my goal time. Am I incredibly proud of this fact? No, not really. But we're choosing to stick with the positives. My legs work. My lungs usually hold up pretty well. It's a good deal for all involved.

This picture was taken circa 4:30am on the fifth of July. I spent the 4th with my second family and a new amigo, Jake. After backyard fireworks, laughing until we cried, and listening to a lot of music, we tried to go to Taco Bell. All of the T-Bells within a reasonable radius were closed. Then we went to McDonald's. We discovered that McD's does NOT have ice cream OR french fries in the wee hours of the morning when all normal people obviously want ice cream and fries. However, we laughed a lot and took pictures and laughed some more and drank frozen strawberry lemonade. It was great.

These are my people. These two. I don't even have words that accurately describe how much they have and are continuing to change my life. They see the seeds of greatness in me, they nurture them, and they pull them out of me. I flew down to North Carolina for the second time to attend a business conference, this one significantly smaller than the last. A few thousand people, a weekend of incredible service and inspiration, of building dreams and laughs and so much good.
My heart was so full coming out of this weekend. So much changed in me for the better that I can't fully put into words. One such example of this is the story of how I got home. My plane left early, without me, from Charlottesville, Virginia. Instead of having a full blown panic attack at 6 in the morning with no clue how to get home. They gave me a ticket from VA to Chicago, but had no seats guaranteed from Chicago to home. I called home, I called the airlines, I handled an inability to transfer money to my debit card-so I was essentially broke, but I got the tears of stress out in about a five minute window and got back to thinking rationally. I grabbed Chickn' Lickn' with Hope, the woman in the center of this photo -- my business partner, coach, mentor, friend, and host -- before getting back to the tiny airport on a later flight. I prayed my way to Chicago, doodling and journaling and just doing life, miraculously without a major meltdown.

It was on this flight that my new mantra got solidified:

the cross before me; 
a team beside me; 
my past behind me

I was terrified, but I also have never felt more alive.
So I land in Chicago and make a beeline for the first airline desk I see. I briefly explain the situation, I ask if there are any flights available in the next few hours. The stewardess looks at her flight board and tells me that the only one leaves in five minutes. I panic slightly. Chicago O'Hare International Airport is a huge place. Unlikely that I can catch a flight in five minutes. So I ask the stewardess about it. It had been delayed for between 20 and 30 minutes. Now we had a slice of hope. I ask her where the flight is boarding... and it's at the gate RIGHT NEXT TO the one I just got off. I take a deep breath, preparing for her to ask me for my debit card, which has nowhere near enough cash on it to pay for the ticket according to the airline price earlier that morning. Ready for this? MY FLIGHT WAS FREE. The airline acknowledged that leaving early and without a passenger was their mistake more than mine, and I boarded the plane after a very brief, but stressful wait on flightside to see if seats were available. I sat next to a pilot on his way home to see his kids, and I was back with my family before supper. Relieved and HOME.

Whistlepunk Pizza of Muskegan. My family has a knack for finding the most hidden away, homey, beautiful places with incredible food. Whistlepunk was no different. Probably some of the most delicious pizza I have ever tasted...it was way out of the realm of 'normal' pizza, but it was worth the drive. My personal favorite was the Bull Cook. As it may or may not be known, I'm a pseudo-vegetarian. I have no problem with eating meat IF I know where it comes from, if it has been raised and killed ethically. So locally funded sausage and pepperoni, made from scratch in their kitchen, was phenomenal. Took the trip out with them, ordered three pizzas for the four of us, ate them all, and even played a game of classic operation in there.

It happened. The day came. My baby sister went to college.
There were a lot of feels, but no tears, so we'll chalk that up to a successful move out for her. My kiddo is now a resident of Lawrence Technological University, studying architecture and running cross country. She survived camp, and right now she's hanging out in some very posh and spacious temporary housing. Not even kidding, there's more square footage in her apartment than my parents had in their first house...for just three girls. Two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, full kitchen, living room, front-loading washer and dryer... the kid is living the high life right now while the BRAND NEW freshman dorms are being completed. I guess you could say she picked the right year to start college, because everything is lining up in her favor right now. I remember all of the feels of my first year at the arbor very clearly, and I can only hope that she finds herself a community and a place to call home there like I have at SAU.

Finally, we have the picture from this past weekend. Momma and I took a trip up to Lake Leenauau to visit her parents, who get to hang out up there and camp for three weeks. Usually we have one of those weeks, but due to the chaos of said kiddo moving in to school and everything else that's been going down lately, they volunteered to take that week off of our list of things to do. Instead, momma and I visited and crammed some of our favorite things into about 38 hours or so... shopping in two little towns, a campfire, coloring, lots of coffee, and ICE CREAM AT OUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM PARLOR IN THE HISTORY OF EVER. Blue Moon Ice Cream in Cedar, MI. If you ever find yourself in the remote vicinity, it's worth the trip. {Leah was a chaperon on a middle school youth group trip this summer and made them drive 45 minutes to go...totally worth it.} Mom and grandma got Jacked Up Tennessee Toffee - their unquestionable favorite, and this is the only place we've ever been able to find it - and I got my go-to bowl of happiness: Ashby's Amaretto Cherry.

It's just an all-around beautiful place up there. It makes my heart so happy, even if there are a million other things going on and the weather is questionable and people get crabby... even then, it's still someplace so special to me.


{This is my camping mug. It has been my camping mug for the last few years. No one else drinks out of my camping mug. Only coffee goes in the camping mug. I take the camping mug with me all day and take pictures with it and just live in my element. HAPPY CAMPER!}