Long before I knew the alphabet, I wanted to write. I still have childhood journals filled with wavy lines—my earliest attempts to put stories on a page before I had the words to tell them.

I have always believed that stories connect us to one another’s humanity. They help us recognize ourselves in lives that may look very different from our own, and they remind us that beneath all the labels we carry are experiences of love, loss, longing, hope, and belonging.

Writing, for me, is a way of paying attention—to memory, to what has been left unsaid, and to the moments that shape who we become.

We all carry stories. What is yours?