The Velveteen Rabbit, My Brother, and Becoming Real

In this episode, I open a story I have carried quietly for years.It is the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, my brother, and the long road toward becoming real.I talk about how a man who could not read gave me the one book that explained my whole life. How he raised me with love and grit. How he kept me safe in a world that did not always feel safe. And how I have been searching for that feeling ever since he died.Yesterday, in the middle of chaos, something shifted.For the first time since I was twenty two years old, I felt safe again.I felt seen.And I will never take that moment for granted.This is a story about love, loss, full circles, and the long and holy work of becoming real.Thank you for listening.— Mandy on the Mountain