My “No Matter What” Friend | Valerie Williams

Deana Brown Mitchell: Hello, everybody. I'm back with another author for Scars to Stars book that's launching on February 22. And I want to introduce you to Valerie Williams, and want her to tell you a little bit about what she wrote about and what her chapter is all about.

Like yarn. Yes. Hey, well, I am Valerie Williams, I'm the president of an Optimist Club in Houston. And I own my own business for 20 plus years, and it's finally very successful as well. And my chapter is about a 30 year friendship that I enjoyed with a girl from my hometown. And the book in this chapter, it's revealing the ups and downs and the fun times, and the not so fun times, and how it all ended. And I think it's fair to say that all of us have thought about, you know, taking our lives. But we simply, you know, could not, the reason that we thought about it, is because we couldn't come to a solution for the problem that was upon us, to satisfy our heart and our mind. And so you just get to the point where you have no other, no other, you feel like you have no other choice, but I'm gonna tell you, it takes a very courageous person to actually go through with that, because, thankfully, I've never gotten that far down, pretty far down, but not that far down. Anyway, I was 15 years old when I met this best friend of mine. And I'm gonna call her mind no matter what friend because she was always there for me, no matter what. We were joined at the hip for years and years and years. And like I said, 30 years later, she was she was, also no matter what she was going to end her life. And no matter what I did, I couldn't, I couldn't seem to stop her. So she was she was very dedicated. And she was very determined. And she unfortunately, succeeded with ending her pain.

Deana Brown Mitchell: You know, I'm really sorry. And I knew that friend too. And I think, not that anywhere near on the level that you did, but knew her for many years. And I'm really sorry for that. And Val story talks a lot about, you know, more about her friend and why she was in that place, and things that she went through in her life that I think a lot of people could relate to. So thank you for sharing that story. And next, I want to ask you, like, what was your experience, being part of this project and writing the story?

Well, first of all, I want to tell you that it's a real honor to have even been asked because I am not an author. And I want to thank Dana and Demi for this opportunity. Even though I had no, no idea what kind of impact it was going to have on my life. And I really, truly hope somebody somewhere out there does benefit from my chapter in this book. And like James said, it is It was scary, very scary. And I felt like I was burying some of my private moments to the world. And now that Mark really was a little uncomfortable. But it was a little bit challenging, because I was always very protective of my friend. She had serious problems, but she was one of the most brilliant and genius, organized, caring people that you would ever, ever want to meet. And so I've always felt really protective of her, she would hide behind my, my ability to to protect her. You know, she was, she was manic depressant. And she was scared to go anywhere by herself because somebody might make fun of her. And so I would always, you know, stand up for her and protect her and by her just like she did for me, but in a completely different level. And I kept her anonymous in this book for for a reason. And that's because most of her family is still alive. And I didn't want them to be taken aback with the fact that I expose some of their lives in telling a story. And since this happened like 2324 years ago, more Most of my details have washed away most of my wounds have healed. But having to open those up again, put me in a little Tailspin for a couple of days, by being an optimist, really did help me because you can only take a Debbie Downer for so long. You know, you have to come back up and find some happy by some peace and, and get on with your life. You know, it's a sad, sad thing that had ever happened that somebody can get in that dark place. But you have to pick yourself up and find that peace and that optimistic mentality. So when you think on the positive side of every poll, it's amazing how healing that that is. So you never really get over the loss of a brand or a well screened or a loved one. But it really does get better with time. And a little optimism doesn't help. Doesn't hurt either. That's my story. That's true. And if you all follow that, or read or know about her, she is the president of an octopus club and Euston, you might have said that. And I got to speak to her group. And it was really, they were very welcoming and gracious to listen and be interested in what we're doing. So thank you for that is very interested.

Deana Brown Mitchell: Well, now, I appreciate you being part of this book and sharing your story, because I know it's going to help others. And it might help people in ways that you and I haven't even thought of you never know. That's how we'll go. Yeah. So for everyone listening, we are going to have a virtual event book launch on February 22, at 9am. Mountain Standard Time. And it's going to be about 60 to 90 minutes. And it's going to be just getting to know the authors learning a little more about the book learning a little more about the foundation, where are the money is going to go from the book to help with suicide prevention. And we hope you can join us. And we will put a link below for the eventbrite registration for the event. If you would like to join us it's free. Just sign up but just ask for your email and you can join us on February 22. So thank you all for listening. And we'll see you hopefully see you on the 22nd Thank you.