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Let Me Tell You How We Got Here


One time when Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and I were at The Cheesecake Factory Mary Kate leans over to me and she goes, “You tell the most beautiful stories.”

I thought that was one of the best compliments anyone has ever given me. Ashley put her small hand on my forearm and added, “She’s right, Justin. Your attention to detail is masterful, and people feel like they’re actually there. That is the power of your words, the gift you have been given.”

I looked from one to the other, tears threatening to break the barriers of my eyelids, and nodded.

“Go,” said Mary Kate Olsen. “Tell your tales. Enrich the world with your poetry.”

“Yes,” said Ashley Olsen, wiping the corners of her mouth with a soft napkin, “Don’t worry about the bill. You bought brunch last week. Rise and enchant the masses. Weave your tapestries and swaddle the lost and the lovelorn. Wrap them safely in your words.”

I hesitated. “But I only know true stories.”

“That is what the people need,” said Ashley, and Mary Kate nodded, her eyes sharp and bright. “These are difficult times for Truth.”

“Thank you,” I said, and walked up the staircase to Michigan Avenue, my heart like a balloon.

I would not fail my friends.