15 Comments

I have to remind myself that you're telling someone else's story. You make it so real.

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I imagine the prompt was gut wrenching to take in. You honored them heartfully well here.

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It's incredible that this is somebody else's story and not your own. What a prompt to receive. This would have ruined my December. Too, too real. I also know Seattle Children's. My son had a surgery there when he was very small. I remember him being put under. As simple a thing as seeing him put under was upsetting. I can't imagine this. Incredible piece of recreation.

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I have a son who had a similar problem as a baby so it was more of a memory. I’m new at Substack and just posted my first article. I’d love to know what you think.

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I’m breathless with awe at this story. First, because I recognize that feeling all too well, having made many a trip to the ED with our croupy son in the middle of the night. And because you tell it with such care and visceral detail, the emotions are right there, weighing on every scene. Bravo.

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Thank you Julie. I just posted my first story if you’d like to check it out

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This felt like it came straight from your own heart, and you were telling us your own story. It's so well told, and I was enraptured in the harrowing experience the whole way. The power and urgency hit me when you wrote, "They are Zach and Alyssa whose names I will never forget, and I am one of those people who never remember names." And those final lines, where gratitude and survivor's guilt meet were a really beautiful reminder of how close we all are to imperfection.

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Thank you so much. I just posted my first story if you’d like to check it out.

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Oh, Jean, you captured what it is to reassess our fortune and its precariousness--and how warm gratitude is when balance is restored. ❤️

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Thank you Holly. I just posted my first story if you’d like checit out.

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Oh, this must have been a difficult write emotionally. I can really feel you have been there...

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You write beautifully. I felt every word

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Such a fragile life we live. Thank you for this story!

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Thank you. I just posted my first story if you’d like to check it out

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Jean, I read it and loved it! Trees are some of my favorite beings on the planet 😊 I live about a half-day's drive from Pando, which is possibly one of the most fascinating trees in the world. It's one of my favorite places to visit and is, in fact, a character in one of my own stories!

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