A Letter to Myself

“Family is not something owed—it’s something built. And you will build it."

In this deeply personal letter to their past self, River Martone writes about grief, self-preservation, and the courage it takes to choose oneself. With tenderness and honesty, they remind us that healing is not the absence of grief, but the expansion to hold it with compassion—and that sometimes, the path to liberation begins with an exhale.