Guys, I went through a break-up last week. It was everything you’d expect; messy, dramatic, exhausting, sad. I mean, this one happened with my writing critique group, but still. It boiled down to a difference in management style. The original creator of the group preferred a solid structure and order. I like a more free-flowing, “everyone offers opinions” option. Eventually, we were going to fracture. It happened last Thursday, and it was not pretty.

Today, we put down our nine-year-old dog. Yesterday, my sister told me she’s “two words from crying.” She said it with a watery voice, and I had to choose my next words carefully so they weren’t the two she hoped not to hear. Two words from crying. Not me. I’ve heard two certain words so many times in the last few weeks, they lost meaning. No, “I’m sorry,” didn’t do it for me. For me, it took three words: “He loved you.”