🎶They say it's your Birthday🎶...

Awe 🤗❤️ Your first "official" baby picture! To tell the truth, you look a little irritated! Understandable, if I remember correctly, you didn't want to vacate the womb. Don't blame you there, you were entering into a pretty chaotic family dynamic and maybe you knew what the future of our family actually looked like.

You were a "surprise" for sure! Mom was totally thrown a curve ball when she found out she was pregnant with you! I know it was scary for her and she talked about being unsure if she wanted to go through with the pregnancy or not and that alone, broke my little 10-year-old heart for sure, but I was over the moon excited and SO proud to become an older sister! Definitely wished we were a bit closer in age, but you came into our lives at the exact moment we needed you too. We all were missing a small piece of our heart, even if we didn't realize it, and you filled it!

Your existence fought so hard to be here and it started all while you were in mom's belly, which recently had me questioning, why? Why did the forces at be, align everything just right, fought the human and her emotional mindset, to bring you into this world for only 29 years? Why were we only allowed such a short amount of time with you? We are taught to fight for what we want but I can't help to think you didn't feel like your life was worth the fight anymore, unfortunately, I can see why you would feel that and I'm sorry. Your life was worth not only living, but you were worth so much more than this world could have ever given you. This is just part of the picture your Mental Health painted.

Our brain seems to be so small in comparison to our whole body yet is such a huge player in keeping us alive. and I really think we take it for granite, and forget that it needs love, compassion, stability, nurturing, stimulated and fueled. It needs reassurance and acceptance. It craves human interaction even when we say we want to be alone. It's an organ we have to have in order to live yet have never really been taught how to properly take care of it. That needs to change, it's time to move forward and make sure the next generation, Caden's generation, breaks the cycle and erases the stigma behind mental illness and is educated better about mental health and is freely open to say, "it's ok, to not be ok." There needs to be better education on the brains function in relation to our mental health. Mental health matters, people matter, I matter, you matter, and my brother mattered. Be the change, stop the cycle, be an advocate for mental health, and start with letting it be a part of your home's normal conversation, and remember to do "check in's" with family, friends, and co-workers because...

EVEN THE WEAK BECOME STRONG WHEN THEY ARE UNITED. - FRIEDRICH SCHILLER