9/12/21
Unlike many of the people I know, I don’t have a large family. I go back and forth about whether it might have been more fun to have lots of cousins and extended relatives running around at family gatherings, but I always come back in remembrance to an abundance of available attention.
Three brothers traversing tree-lined mud paths worn over time
and I got to take my pick –
the best of wherever I chose.
Often, I chose baking with my grandma. Repairing, maintaining with my dad. Laughing with my Uncle Kenny.
When I think of Kenny Kepley, I think of laughter.
And that’s why we must talk about pain, that’s why we must show up, that’s why we must ask questions and say “I love you” and intercede. Why we take time for things like a National Suicide Prevention Month. Because we’re all so different. We carry our burdens differently. We carry hopelessness differently. And this year, my heart is groaning. I want to speak up – because our street-corners, our nation, our world is so vulnerable. Because people are uniquely struggling and uniquely lonely and uniquely at a loss with how to help themselves.
Suicide changed my family forever. I’m sure many of you have your own stories, might have been similarly impacted.
When I think of Kenny Kepley, I think of laughter, and I’ll always carry him with me.
Yesterday, my friend Bri said, “I want to remind you that you are loved exactly as you are. You don’t have to do better or be better, you’re just loved and you matter.”
If you need support or resources, if you have questions, if you want to share or chat – reach out. I want to know, I want to hear, and I want to help.
This life is a really special one, and it’s mostly because of you.
Lightly,
Leah
Leah Kepley, M.Ed. 