My stepmom burned my college acceptance letter in the fireplace. However, when a stranger showed up at our door, she wasn’t smiling.
When that occurred, I thought my dreams had vanished. But then this stranger arrived with a pink suitcase and a message from my late mom, and it transformed everything.
It was when I was 18, and I recall every detail as if it were just yesterday. That was the moment my life changed, and I discovered just how strong I truly was.
It was a warm April afternoon in the early 2000s, one of those days in the South where the sun seems as though it’s about to melt your skin.
I was walking home from the animal shelter where I volunteered. I had a bag of treats for Buster, my grumpy ginger cat. He was my source of comfort, my buddy, and the one constant in a life that often felt incredibly lonely.
