My Young Friend (Paige McRae - New Orleans, LA)

He lay just up the road from my father, the young man I grew to consider my friend though we never met in this realm. On our way to my father’s grave, I was strangely drawn to one nearby. A few small stuffed animals had been placed around it, as if they could either be standing guard or keeping company. I walked up to read the gravestone and learned it was the final resting place of a youth of seventeen. The offerings, loving expressions of grief from his friends, likely their first experience of death with someone so close to their own age. I felt as if I were sharing it with them. My father had been closer in age to when one naturally crosses the veil, but in a way he introduced. On future visits I always made it a point to say hello to my young friend.

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Louisiana Words (LouisianaWords.com) showcases the positivity of the Louisiana LGBTQIA+ writers community and our allies. Our family of writers are lighting up the state of Louisiana and the rest of the world for the Winter 2025 season starting on Sunday, January 5th, 2025! Louisiana Words is a LGBTQIA+ organization that promotes writers who live and who have lived in Louisiana! We are here to be a creative outlet that helps uplift and inspire each other! Louisiana Words is gearing up for another great year of talent! We are calling for writers! If you live in Louisiana or have lived in Louisiana, you can submit! We accept poetry, fiction, short plays, short screenplays, or memoirs! We love writing from new or seasoned writers! No politically-motivated content will be accepted. LouisianaWords.com is the home for Louisiana's LGBTQIA+ Louisiana writers and our allies! We help market new and seasoned writers for FREE! Just submit your work and we’ll get you into our content rot...

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