(If you subscribe to my art substack, this letter is already waiting for you in your mailbox, but I’m sharing it here too in case you don’t do substack but still need to read it.)
Dear friend,
This is the last week of October and so I drew you a Halloweeny sketch but then Sunday I had this really weird thought that someone out there needed to hear something specific and so I drew it up and thought I’d share it next week but my very compulsive mind is telling me that I need to post it now. This might just be my OCD winning but I also believe in following your gut, so next week you’ll get my Halloween drawing WAY AFTER HALLOWEEN and I’m so sorry I’m like this.
But…maybe you’re the person who needs to hear this today…
it’s going to be okay. I love you. You are doing amazing.
The world is hard at times and we’re each fighting so many battles, but you’re doing so much better than you think. You are making differences in the lives of people in ways you’ll probably never see. It’s easy to let the darkness around us overshadow the light, but your shine is integral. It may be impossible to see the glow you bring with your own eyes, but it is so gorgeously obvious to so many others.
“I can’t always keep the rain away. But I’ll always share my umbrella.”
There is always space under my umbrella for you.
I super crazy love you.
Your friend,
~ Jenny
Could not have come at a better time! Thank you.
Oh, Jenny. Never need to apologize for OCD. It’s the mean part of your brain. It’s tough to manage, but doable. Little steps, not big leaps, ma’am.
Thank you for sharing your umbrella, Jenny.
Oh Jenny. I so hope you are right. I have been feeling like I am messing it all up. All. Thank you for sending this today.
Thank you, Jenny. I really did need this today. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
You are magic.
OMG! So very much needed today! Thank you! And I’m always spooky, so post Halloween works perfectly for me. You are loved.
Love it and this is so necessary now! Thanks.
Back at you! I needed that today. Hugs, Jenny!
It was me. Jenny, it was me. Ok now I have tears in my eyes, (and perhaps megalomania?) – but thank you Jenny. ❤️
This reader needs no apology!🩷
That’s a well-needed umbrella – thank you, Jenny. We super crazy love you, too. I hope you’re as okay as you can be, and thank you for your brain, your OCD, and your heart. Xx
💖💖💖
Jenny, you never cease to amaze me with knowing the right thing to say. Thank you for all you do. <3<3<3
Bless you! You are wonderful and kind
Given how things are right now, I think we ALL needed this. Thanks, Jenny!
Anxiety can bite a spiked hunk of metal.
Bingo
So kind, my friend.
You make my days bright…even on my darkest. Appreciate you soooo much!
Blessings on your OCD little head! XOXOX
Thanks for trusting your gut (or your OCD, fellow traveler here) and holding your umbrella, Jenny. Today is my late husband’s birthday — my Angelic Daughter and I are missing him badly, and this post was comforting.
Thank you so much <3 I fell apart today and yesterday and needed to hear this.
Your OCD was right. I DID need to hear that today. Thank you.
Yes! Follow your gut!. We must rely on our guts (& our true friends like you) when so many once-trusted structures get shaky all around us.
I need a tent size umbrella for the rain in my life.
Love this so much. Thank you.
I’m not saying you were directed to post this for my benefit Jenny, it will certainly benefit many people, but it certainly helped me.
Thank you for this today.
You are so kind hearted and caring of everyone!
Thank you, Jenny. My mom and I both love your books. My mom is dying and it’s really hard and I needed this today.
Please put this in your Zazzle store, Jenny. I can see this on shirts, bags, and notebooks. It’s perfect for those days. 💜
Jenny, thank you. I’m cryin over here. Now breathing a bit better. You are a gift, my friend.
Sobbing right now because I needed this. I just found out my brother tried to end his life and I’m reeling.
Thank you for listening to your OCD today, Jenny. I am struggling with the life post-panic attack, and am thinking of potential paths to end the pain permanently. I needed this RIGHT NOW. I thank you and your beautifully flawed brain for letting me in on your journey. You have saved a life today, my friend. Literally. 💗
I love your drawing but I also love the rain!
I needed to see this. I’m involved with ice watch in a very diverse Chicago neighborhood and it’s looking like it’s going to be a bad week with scouting vehicles and helicopters both tracked today. This is on top of multiple neighborhoods that were tear gassed in the period between Thursday and Sunday. I have to do something and honestly action does make me feel better but there’s just so much of it that I need to be reminded that other people have umbrellas too
Thank you so much Jenny! You are such a huge help to us all. It is an honor to share your umbrella
Love you, too, dear heart. 🫶🏻💗
Thank you Jenny. I love you too ❤️
Oh Jenny, thank you so much for loving so generously!! Your words are like a super-squeezy hug. Thank you for creating this community of genuine caring and kindness for others. Sending love to you, too!!
Not me ugly sobbing because I really did need to hear that. I feel like no one in my world really knows or understands what a hard time I’ve been having. I don’t really know how to say anything so I just either keep to myself or put on my normal happy face. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank. You.
Thank you for being you.
And sharing your umbrella.
I think OCD is sometimes just our spidey-sense telling us to be alert and aware. Trust your instincts.
I super love you back in a non-creepy way, and all your fans, too.
You all make us all feel a little less alone, a little less strange, and a little more connected. Because we have each other’s backs on this blog.
To everyone out there struggling, we are not alone, and as Jenny tells us, it’s okay to not be okay.
Perfectly timed. Lots of hugs to you!
I love you Jenny. You don’t know me but I’ve read all of your books ALL! I love you, your baby, and your husband. I would marry you all if I could. And I have had way too much wine…but in vino, veritas. You take the black away from me with laughter and light. I am not alone.
My best friend in the whole world died unexpectedly October 8th, he was my husband of 37 years. I’m floundering. I don’t know if I’m part of what you felt, but thank you anyway.
Rsin means you are able to see and enjoy sparkly spiderwebs! Hold that thought!
Thank you Jenny, I’m crying now. It’s been a tough day, and my mask is disintegrating. Have to patch it up for tomorrow, I needed this.
Yeah … I am one of those who needed that today. And tomorrow. And the day after ….
Yep, needed to read that.
Your words definitely spoke to me today. Absolutely the right message at the right time. Super crazy love you too!@
Wow… to say that this was needed is putting it lightly. I just found out I have breast cancer, and… well, I’ve been having a hell of a time processing it. As an adoptee, I don’t know much about my family medical history, but I do know that my maternal grandmother passed away from breast cancer quite young. So my doctor scheduled me for an early mammogram at 40, which took nearly a year to get done here due to the backlog, and they found a lump that they couldn’t tell if it was scar tissue from a surgery I had when I was 20. They did a biopsy and, unfortunately, I just found out that it’s cancer. I don’t know the subtype or anymore details yet, but I have a follow up appointment tomorrow that I’m really freaking out about. So, yeah, thanks for this. It truly couldn’t have come at a better time. 💜
The encouraging words are awesome. I own several umbrella and have no idea where any of them are right now. Thank you for sharing yours.
What a wonderful greeting card this would be. Possible? There are so many times I don’t have the right words to express my good intentions, but you do.
Love this so much and did really need it today. Bless you!
Thank you. My mom broke her femur today and I can’t be with her as she’s in surgery since she’s out of town. She’ll probably be ok but I just needed to hear that it’s gonna be ok. <3
I super crazy love you. SO MANY THINGS!
Well, that made me tear up, so it seems your gut was correct. ❤️
I’m one of the people that needed this today. Thanks Jenny. Also thank you to everyone being vulnerable in the comments section. Reading it made me feel less alone with struggling . Also did you make up that saying or was it already a thing? So good
Thanks for the encouraging words!
Thank you. Your bookstore in San Antonio is wonderful.
I didn’t know I needed to hear that today, but I really did. Thank you Jenny.
Made me cry. Thank you so much for listening to your gut. There’s room under my umbrella, too.
I have shared this with two friends so far. I also have OCD – I’ve been trying to treat it as a trusty tool to let me know when I need to be alert to something. Sounds like you were using your OCD tool appropriately. Thank you, friend. You helped me build my umbrella, and it’s why it has a snack compartment 😉
Being the sort of person who follows the thoughts that lead to kindness is always the right move. Lots of us needed this today, it seems. Definitely me. Serious stuff happening with one of my kiddos that has me scared to death. Thanks for always being a light in the dark. A very funny light that feels so weirdly like a friend I’ve never met.
This was exactly what I needed today. Thank you Jenny.
Yep. This. Needed to hear and see this. Thank you Jenny.
Yes, I needed this. Thank you Jenny.
I did need that, right now, thank you
Thank you Jenny. You are a kindly soul.
Thank you!! I needed that!! It’s been a rough week…. And it’s only Tuesday!! 😑I’m always here to share my umbrella with you, too!!
I love your drawings and your books!! You’re absolutely amazing and such a beautiful spirit to share your journey with us!! I’m sending hugs to you—- virtually—- that way you can accept them or not…. Some people are huggers. Some are not….
I hug …. Some people…. Not all! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you again for!! ❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful! I know it’s a metaphorical umbrella, but I’m holding Jamaica and Cuba in my heart right now. Feeling grateful for those who share their umbrellas.
Thank you. I really needed that. I regularly remember how you said that suicide is a liar. It has made all the difference in my life.
(I’m so glad you’re here. ~ Jenny)
Thanks for that wonderful message and we super crazy love you too!
~Susan
THANK YOU!!!
I’m definitely one of the people that needed this. Thank you. I’ll always share my umbrella with you too <3
Always follow those urges to share kindness. Thank you, this had me tearing up, in a good way. Sending love to you and your sweet family 🩷
And you are super crazy loved in return. O Jenny, you are a force for good in the Universe and I bless the day I discovered Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.♥️
eu totalmente precisava disso no dia 27, e ainda preciso disso hoje, provavelmente precisarei disso amanhã <3
Thank you for your honesty, as always. I dont have OCD, but I find it a fascinating read.
I’ll step under your umbrella any day!
Thank you, Jenny. <3