Last year about this time I was walking 16 miles through the night around the streets of Dallas. I participated in my first American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Overnight Walk. Thousands of people joined together to raise money (a minimum of $1,000 each) and awareness about suicide. It was not a race because when you…

Tomorrow is the campus walk at Southwestern University to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The entire walk was created and organized by my remarkable husband. He got the idea when I did the Overnight Walk last April in Dallas, and one year later it is a reality. The walk has already raised over…

I was reminded today that not everyone is comfortable or thinks suicide should be talked about in a public context. Of course it is fine to be upset when someone famous like Robin Williams kills himself, and we might even talk about that “one” friend we knew who died by suicide once every few years……

In one of my previous lives, I’ve had a few, I was a hospital chaplain. I did a year of Clinical Pastoral Education at Wake Forest Baptist Health right after I completed my PhD in Counseling and Counselor Education. It was the hardest year of my life. I sat with people as they died. I…

This week started with me crying, more like weeping, to Matthew for almost an hour about the hate many in our country have for others, specifically Muslims. I cried thinking of some of our neighbors who are Muslim. I cried thinking of my trip to Turkey and how the Muslim people were some of the…

My dad retired from a long career in education yesterday. This is the speech I gave at his reception. I’ve always gone to work with my dad. When I was little I would go with him into the office on Saturday mornings. He was the manager of an oilfield company and liked going in on…

I was born into a family where education was a priority. My dad graduated from college and completed his masters when I was in elementary school. My mom did not go to college, but she talked to my sister and me about it from the day we were born. I remember her showing me savings…

A darkness comes over you when someone you know, someone close to you, dies by suicide. It is honestly a darkness you can’t explain. It causes you to see everything differently, or maybe not even see many things. This darkness is not to be talked about…the darkness is lonely and isolating. As you are walking…

Today I sent my sister a picture of Robin Williams I saw on Twitter. It was a picture a fan had taken with him. I commented to my sister he had sad eyes. She responded by saying it is sad he struggled with depression for so long. She continued by saying sometimes you tire of…

A few years ago when Matthew coached in NC, he was first introduced to LAX-4-LIFE, a national campaign for adolescent and young adult suicide prevention awareness. I immediately thought the campaign was fantastic and hoped Matthew would always have his team participate. LAX-4-LIFE is a wonderful intersection of both of our passions… lacrosse and suicide…

In a time when technology allows the words we say to be repeated over and over all across the world, it seems we are becoming less responsible for what we say. How many times a week do we read in the news about some famous person putting their foot in their mouth and the only…

Sunday Keaton turned three months old, or another way to put it, Matthew and I survived the first three months of Keaton’s life! As I like to say, the days have gone by so fast and the nights so slow. It really is amazing we all survived. Neither Matthew nor I had changed a diaper…

During the day when Matthew is at work, Keaton and I do lots of singing and dancing… ok I am the one doing the singing and the dancing and Keaton is entertained, or at least I hope he is. I read to him at times too, but he really likes the singing and dancing. It…

I found although I wanted traditions to continue when my mom died by suicide, most were too painful to continue without her. I found this especially true around Christmas. Trying to continue traditions without her was just a constant reminder of her being gone and her death. As much as I craved the traditions of…

Suicide, the S word… a word people don’t want to say and defiantly don’t want to discuss. I know I didn’t until August 22, 1998. On that date, it didn’t become my choice to discuss the S word… that was the day my mother committed suicide. It was also the day I became a survivor…

One of Matthew’s wonderful qualities is he likes things to have a place… he likes to be organized. Since we moved into our house about 15 months ago, he has dreamed of having a neat and tidy garage. It is a two-car garage and he wants both cars to be in the garage. I love…

Matthew and I often have a discussion about whose religious background instilled the most guilt: my Southern Baptist upbringing or his Catholic. In the end it doesn’t really matter, because somewhere along the way he dropped off his guilt and I continued to carry mine. I knew I struggled with feeling guilty about many, many…

Today is one of the biggest games in Baylor football history. All of Baylor Nation is anxiously awaiting the big game against OU tonight. Since Keaton was born, Baylor has not only won football games, they have done so in a convincing fashion. As I told Keats this morning…. Baylor went from everyone wanting to…

I don’t know if I really ever thought about labels until I was in school to become a counselor. In multiple classes we discussed the harm caused by labeling individuals… this discussion mainly focused on diagnosing clients. Diagnosing was required (especially for insurance purposes), but we often contemplated how to assist clients in not feeling…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words… and I have to agree.  In one picture Keaton, Matthew, my dad, and Mister Rogers are all included. I know, I know it is a little odd to put Mister Rogers in the list of these individuals, but it works for me. The picture was taken…