This topic has touched me more through my wife than anything else so far, or rather through someone very close to her. In the interest of protecting her privacy, I won’t give much detail except those that are important to convey what I need to say.

My wife has known her friend, (we'll call them Robin) pretty much her entire life. They are extremely close. Watching my wife deal with the pain of constant vigil for Robin is heartbreaking. It consumes a lot of her thoughts on almost a daily basis and it crushes her that she is mostly powerless to help her friend with the extreme depression they are feeling and expressing relentlessly. Knowing what Robin is going through, I can completely understand how they could feel hopeless. Several lost jobs, one of them an entire career, divorce, child custody battles over a newborn, losing a parent, legal issues, mental health problems, substance abuse issues stemming from these things )and contributing to them)... it's a lot.

Robin has, on multiple occasions, spoken about this despair and how it might be solved through an extreme action. There have been several interventions by my wife and by law enforcement, an ongoing issue for almost as long as I can remember. While it has been really hard for my wife to constantly attend to this, I know for sure that if she were to lose Robin she would be absolutely devastated. Robin’s child would grow up without a parent, their mother would never forgive herself. To say they'd be missed is a massive understatement - they're incredibly important to a lot of people, even though they don’t think they are. To put more clearly - Robin matters….and so do you.

My hope for you, when you wear this strap, is that it will serve as a reminder that no matter how low you are feeling, youareimportant and people need you. The lives you touch matter and whether you see it now or not, you're needed here. Your story isn’t finished - there's still many beautiful chapters left to write.

-Nick

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD – Small parts. Not for children under 3 yrs.