05/04/2026
Happy Sunday, besties. I’ve had a really crazy, eventful weekend, and I need to vent for a second.
So, I decided to treat myself to a mani and pedi. While I was there, another woman was already sitting there getting a pedicure. To be honest, I don’t think my facial expression says, “Please come talk to me,” but she clearly needed someone to listen.
And it’s wild how we can think our own lives are stressful or falling apart over small things, but then you sit and truly listen to somebody else’s pain, and suddenly your own problems don’t feel so heavy anymore. It makes you thankful. Thankful that God woke you up this morning. Thankful for a roof over your head, food in your belly, and the simple blessings we sometimes overlook.
Linda was a middle-aged white woman who looked completely defeated. She said she came to the nail salon just trying to get a little pick-me-up because her life had completely fallen apart.
Linda told me her 14-year-old daughter ran away to be with a 27-year-old man who lied about his age and pretended to be younger. While her daughter was gone, this man brutalized her for over a week. When her daughter finally came home, she had two STDs and one of them was incurable. Later, they also discovered that she was pregnant.
What made the situation even more heartbreaking was that Linda said nothing really happened to the man. Police claimed her daughter ran away willingly and said it wasn’t the first time she had run away. But at the end of the day, he was still a 27-year-old man involved with a 14-year-old child.
Linda said her daughter couldn’t mentally recover from everything that happened to her. Two weeks ago, her daughter took her own life because the pain became too much for her to carry.
As parents, we try so hard to protect our children from the dangers of this world. Sometimes kids think we’re being mean, controlling, or overprotective. They say hurtful things and swear we don’t understand them. But predators know exactly what to say. They manipulate young minds by telling them everything they want to hear. They make them feel loved, special, and understood, all while setting a trap.
Young people don’t always understand how quickly one decision can change their entire life. One night of wanting to have fun, sneak out, or rebel can turn into trauma that follows you forever.
Listening to Linda reminded me that this world can be a very cruel place. She also talked about how hard it is for people without insurance or resources to get real help, especially mental health support after something so traumatic. Meanwhile, that 27-year-old man is still out here living his life because they said there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute him, even though her daughter came back with two STDs, one being incurable, and was pregnant.
When her pedicure was over, all I could do was tell her how sorry I was for everything she was going through. I ended up paying for her pedicure because my heart truly hurt for her.
Please be safe out here, girls and boys. And please listen to the people who genuinely love and want to protect you. Sometimes those warnings are there for a reason.🫶🏽
