1
The first time my heart broke, I thought back tothe day in my childhood when a piece of glass wentthrough my finger after an ill-fated cartwheel. I was eleven years old. My mother and I were in our bathroom cleaningup the wound. She dribbled peroxide onto the cut. It fizzed and burned; I winced at the pain. It needs to burn so you know it’s healing, she explained. That small exchange during my adolescence helpedme learn to appreciate the pain pulsating from mybroken heart. In spite of the severity of my wound, I knew the healing process had already begun.Alicia Cook
2
It’s one thing to have a support system in your lifeto cheer you on during the instances wheneveryone is rooting for you. However, it’s anotherthing entirely to look back in your darkestmoments and still see them standing in yourcorner, encouraging you to stay in the ring and F I G H T, when the odds aren’t in your favor and allyou want to do is throw in the towel. Not many people in this life will be on your sideeven when they aren’t on your side. Even less whomomentarily will slam doors out of frustration butnever actually lock you out. Unconditional love; the definition of sister.Alicia Cook
3
If you are lucky enough to have a childhoodfriend, try your hardest to grow old with them. These friends are a unique, irreplaceable breed. These friends lived through curfews and Polaroid pictures with you. These friends knowyour parents and siblings because they had to callyour house first to speak with you. Your memoriesare not frozen in time on social media, but live onnonetheless. Most importantly, they remember the personyou were before the world got ahold of you, sothey have this crazy ability to love you no matterwhat. They are the living, breathing reflection ofwhere you have been. And so, just when you thinkyou’ve lost yourself for good, they are there tobring you face-to-face with your true self, simplyby sharing a cup of coffee with them. As your world grows and becomes larger andmore complicated than your backyard, even if youestablish a life elsewhere, I hope your childhoodfriends remain lifelong allies, because mine havesaved my life on more than one occasion.Alicia Cook
4
If you are feeling lost, helpless, down, sad, angry, betrayed, you name it, you can rise from it, you can create from it, you can grow from it. I am living proofthe most turbulent year of one’s lifecould also turn out to bethe greatest, more rewarding year, too.Alicia Cook
5
There have been nights I’ve shared a twin bed with himand still couldn’t get close enough. Then there have been nightsspent in a king bed where I’ve feltas though his annoying ass was stillin my personal space. We e b b and f l o w. But there’s no one else I’d rathercrash into every night whenthe tide hits its inevitable peak.Alicia Cook