Dave. Wow, you just made a whole lot of things better today. I thank you for both sharing your story and absorbing mine. My faith in humanity just widened by the exact size of your empathy.

I also just have to say — I submitted this to Psychology Today some time ago and they turned it down. Which is totally fine, as a writer this is is common. And it’s not a very clinical look. But it touches a deep chord in me for it to end up featured today — I have to believe not coincidentally — on the anniversary of MLK’s death. Which means the staff at Medium also actually read this piece and it affected them, too.

To start to feel found after this long — it is profound. I thank you for reaching through the muck.