Yesterday, I got an e-mail notification that someone I did not know donated $100 to my AFSP donor drive. When I logged into my account and read the message from this person, I realized it was a friend of my cousin’s. She said she found my work admirable to help others in light of this tragedy, and that my cousin spoke often about my brother, considering him like a little brother. He told her that he thought about my brother often.

While that sounds very touching, the sad part about that is that it’s easy for an outsider to think that my cousin cared a lot. My cousin rarely paid my brother any attention. He hadn’t spoken with him in over three months before he died. Sure, he sent him birthday and Christmas gifts, but part of love is actually being there and giving attention.

I’m grateful for the generous donation, but I’m just sad that this friend has no clue what the real story behind my cousin is.