On December 26th, it will be 18 years since my father took his own life. I won’t deny that there have been days, and weeks even, that he hasn’t entered my mind. It’s not that I didn’t love him, in fact I remember feeling nothing but love for him in the short time we were together. But in those moments when I reflect on what happened that day, I wish that I was a little bit older to have been able to help him, to let him know everything was going to be ok. But most importantly, to remind him that I love him.
Yesterday was To Write Love on Her Arms Day and I found out about this event thanks to a long-time friend, Jeanne, via Facebook and the message really hit close to home. It was created to help spread awareness about what the TWLOHA organization stands for:
To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
Lately, I’ve been thinking of ways I can be more active and informed on helping others that are in need of assistance. Helping out this organization and others like it (SAVE, AFSP, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) is something I’m planning on getting involved with. In a way I feel that participating with these types of organizations will help me to remember my father more, while also helping out those in need.