Dear M./90s nomad, mid Atlantic near DC:

I think you are a good writer, enjoyed reading your post. About suicide, which I too considered for many years, do people know that suicide is the choosing of the timing of death, not death itself. I didn’t know that. For some reason, probably because it is very difficult for us humans to accept the reality of death, it felt like I was choosing death itself, as if it was not going to happen unless I chose it.

How to become a lifeline without sinking under the waves yourself, that is your question.

Be aware of your limitations as a lifeline. You are probably not as much of a lifeline to others as you think you are, meaning, he or she will live regardless of your input. It is way more a function of a person’s desire to live- underneath the despair and pain- that keeps a person living, than it is a matter of your input. And then, if a person is in so much pain and has come to that place of suicide, your input  is not likely to make a difference.

I would love to read some of your “short story drafts and pre-writing, other artifacts”- as I said, I like your writing.

Hope you post again.

anita