"True friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves."

Today was... interesting.

Today had a lot of great parts.

I got to hang out with Brooke and go to Steak n' Shake (our favorite tradition). She's one of my favorite people to spend time with and I'm so thankful for her and her heart and honesty and laughter. We showed up at the 8th grade volleyball game and cheered on my girls from the stands. I love seeing all of them play and work together as a team. The student section was also hilarious to watch tonight.

Today was also really hard.

Early this afternoon I got a text from a YL girl telling me that a Senior at Cathedral had taken his own life this morning. I didn't know him, but I soon found out that he was well loved by everyone and a good friend of HSE and Cathedral students. My heart is so sad for these kids. I hate seeing people I care about so sad, confused, angry, shocked and upset. It's hard to come up with the words to say on a day like today.

Tonight a group of Cathedral and HSE students met out at the barn with a group of YL leaders. We talked about their friend, about what they went through today, about how this is affecting them, about what they would say to him, about how they want to help one another. It was good.  It didn't fix anything, but it was good. Tomorrow will still be hard-- and the days after that. But their friend will not be forgotten.
I want my friends to know that they are so incredibly loved. Their lives matter. They are not here on accident. God loves every single one of us beyond measure. We get the joy and responsibility of reminding each other of that love. We get to show up, check in, and take care of each other. We are not alone.