Friends, this week. This week has been a tough one. At the outset, the loss of Kate Spade had me so sad. Kate Spade was one of the first shows I ever attended at New York Fashion Week. The creativity, ingenuity and message of female empowerment that Kate Spade ignited was so impactful. Her brand inspired me to be braver. With my outfit choices and my life choices.

And then came the news of Anthony Bourdain.

His passing has struck me down cold. Maybe because he’s been beamed into our living rooms for so many years. Maybe because I wanted to travel and eat just like he did. Maybe because he was a voice for the often voiceless and a champion of the underdog. He was the guy I always said I wanted on the proverbial “dream dinner party.” We live in a time with an extraordinary amount of pain and an extraordinary lack of kindness and human decency. The technological tools that were invited to “bring us closer together” (and on which this little corner of the internet so heavily relies) actually serve to put a very inhumane amount of distance between us.

While the losses of these two brilliant humans is tragic, I’m attempting to take the loss as a reminder to be gentle. To be kind. To reach out. To connect. Everyday. And not with a heart or a like or an emoji. But with a call. A hug. A “tell me what’s going with you lately.” We say please reach out, ask for help. But when you’re drowning in emotional & mental turmoil it can be impossible to catch your breath long enough to speak. That said I have included the contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline below. Because it is the very very least I can do.