"Because of you, I know I'm gonna be okay..."

I had a student come up to me--- first day we met--- and say "Because I see you, I know I'm gonna be okay."

I'd just walked into their English class with my teaching partner, passed out laminated scripts and raggedy costumes, and challenged a roomful of sleepy high schoolers to play the witches in Macbeth at 7AM.

I had my pronoun pin on, and they'd noticed.

In that hallway, I looked them in the eye and said, "You are why I'm an actor, producer, writer and teacher."

Because I don't just build stories. 

I build chosen family around healing stories that remind people they're loved and they're not alone.

That's exactly what we do inside Roguish Goblin Stories. Because where we laugh, learn and lament together, we become family.

I'm glad you're here.

You never know when telling someone how they've blessed you will encourage them.

When that student came up to me, I'd just had a house fire and was stressed to the max about where I would be living the next week. 

This student taking five seconds to tell me what I meant to them had me weeping. 

They thought I was encouraging them, but in thanking me, they encouraged me.

You never know who's encouraged by your presence.

Keep being you :)