Today, I came home early and found my 15 year old brother shooting up heroin. I’m 17 years older than him, and I used to be an addict. I’ve been clean for almost ten years, but I used to shoot up around my brother when he was a little kid. I thought he was too young to understand. But today when I scolded him for it, he said, “You’re the one who taught me what this stuff is all about.” MMT

Today, my husband and I have buried both of our children in the past three years. Having two children from a previous marriage, who are now older and living on their own, I took for granted the fact that everything doesn't always go as planned. MMT

Today, I am one of three soldiers out of a platoon of 20 that I was grouped with two years ago that returned home from overseas without a major injury. Five of us didn't make it back at all. MMT

Today, it's been over a decade since he passed, but sometimes I still read his love letters like it's the first time I've ever read them. MMT

Today, in her hospital bed, she reached for my hand despite not knowing exactly where she was or what had happened to her, and with a thin but honest smile, asked, "However did you escape the addiction?" MMT

Today, my ten year old said he had moved on from his best friend, who was hit and killed by a car a year ago, but as he stared at the spot where he died on our walk home from school, I knew he hadn't. MMT

Today, when I arrived at the memorial site, I couldn't think of anything witty or poignant to write, so I just carved “I miss you” into the telephone pole that killed you and went home. MMT

Today, I sob while looking at the picture of my best friend who died because of suicide. I don't have the guts to tell her parents the reason why. She killed herself when her ex-boyfriend proposed to another girl. It turns out she wasn't over him yet, even though she told me she was. And the girl he proposed to was me. MMT

Today, I realized I had a new voicemail on my home phone. Yesterday, my sister passed away in a car accident on the way home from visiting me. I've been blaming myself for what happened. The voicemail was from her, about twenty minutes before the accident, ten minutes after she left. It said, "Hey, sis. Thanks for a great day. Spending time with you is always one of the best parts of my life. I hope you know how much I love you. See you on the flip side." MMT

Today, despite his regular invitations to come and stay at his place for the weekend, it’s been almost a full year since I visited my grandmother. But I drove for 8 hours in the pouring rain with no insurance to see her die this evening. MMT

Today, as much as I’m trying not to be so full of myself, I’m sitting here in tears, in my lowest of lows, and I'm convinced that if I had just asked my best friend to prom, instead of asking the cheerleader she told me she didn’t like, she wouldn't have gotten so drunk and drove her car off the bridge on her way home. MMT

Today, even though you say I'm too thin, I still see a fat, disgusting slob in the mirror. And I wish I didn’t, for your sake; because I can see it’s tearing you apart, which tears me apart too. MMT

Today, while visiting my in-laws in Israel, all I remember is paying for my coffee and taking one sip as I stepped outside into the sunlight, followed by a puff of powdered glass in my face, then an explosion, sirens and seven dead people lying in front of me at the end of the block. MMT

Today, I realized I never had as long or decent a conversation with my mother as the one I had with her this morning after I found out she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. MMT

Today, one of the most beloved teachers at our school passed away. He was the only teacher that ever tried to talk to me about my problems and aspirations; and he inspired me even when I felt hopeless. He constantly struggled with severe health problems, but he was still one of the happiest/funniest people I knew. But he didn't die from health complications; he committed suicide this morning. MMT

Today, even though the abuse killed me emotionally and led to so many problems in my childhood, and even knowing that he will never, ever change, I still often catch myself wishing he would just man up and be a dad. I didn't deserve to grow up without one, and I wish I hadn’t. MMT

Today, I was feeling extremely sorry for myself as I went to the hospice facility to see my dad. I'm only 16, and I think it's terrible that I have to lose someone so important to me at such a young age. But this afternoon I met a five year old at the hospice facility who is going through the exact same thing. And in an awful way, it made me thankful. MMT

Today, my oldest daughter, at 14 years of age, passed away from injuries she sustained in a car accident, while my wife gave birth to our first son. MMT

Today, it took my father being diagnosed with terminal cancer to make me fly back home, give him a kiss, and tell him how much I love him, in person, for the first time in six years. MMT

Today, I found out why my mortgage broker didn't show up for our meeting this afternoon. I am in the final stages of purchasing a house, so I was very angry that he was a ‘no call, no show.’ But it turns out, a day after scheduling our meeting, he unexpectedly passed away. MMT

Today, his suicide letter was one sentence long. It simply said, “I told people so many nice things, but did so many bad things to them behind their backs.” MMT

Today, I came to pick her up ten minutes earlier than I said I'd be there and learned that the bruises she always seems to have aren't from her “being clumsy” as she always claims. MMT

Today, after I came back from your wake, I sat alone in our apartment going over our argument from yesterday morning. And all I want to say to you is, “I’m sorry. I love you.” MMT

Today when I sit here and think about the horrific details that went into your suicide my heart just utterly aches. The fact that someone like you, so smart, beautiful, and magnetic could think so little of yourself and result in you ending it all early, makes my stomach turn in knots. If only you understood how just even your smile effected people – especially me. If only we had told more often that it did. Remembering you will always MMT.