32 Comments
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Candace's avatar

This is stunning 😭 please tell me you sent this to Anna!

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

😳 I probably should! Thank you so much, Candace.

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Candace's avatar

You absolutely should! This piece is inspiring me to reach out to some of my friends I’ve lost touch with. I may just send it to them as a way of starting the conversation ❤️

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Jessica Barreira's avatar

I was thinking the exact same thing. 👀 Beautiful, Michelle! 💜

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

❤️❤️ thank you so much, Jess!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

I love a braided essay, Michelle. This one was fantastic!

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you so much, Amanda! ❤️

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Georgia LaCroix's avatar

Truly beautifully written :). Love the term “braided essay”—thanks, Amanda! And I agree with Candace—A gorgeous essay to share with Anna.

You have a gift, Michelle 💜. But that’s not news 😉.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

🥹 love youuu, thank you so much!

(Also, I shared the piece with her yesterday. ❤️)

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Kendra Fiddler's avatar

“which means there are about 3,000 miles between us. Two full trips around the airways inside the lungs, one lap around hers and a second around mine.” Love these lines!!

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you so much for reading and for this sweet reply, Kendra! ❤️

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Tanya Lewis's avatar

Happy Birthday 🩷🩷🩷

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Tanya Lewis's avatar

My God this is so beautiful, Michelle. It reconfigured me somehow. So powerful.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Wow, definitely not me getting misty-eyed at this comment 🥹 thank you so much, Tanya.

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Kate Howlett's avatar

Wow! This completely captured me the entire way through and made me shed a tear. How beautiful. Such masterful weaving of threads into such a meaningful whole.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you so much for reading, Kate! And your kind feedback means a lot ❤️

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Kate Vollrath's avatar

LOVE THIS. 🫁🪄 turns out a piece about lungs has a lot of heart. I love Florence and the Machine and didn’t know about Florence and Isa working together on lungs! So cool. I also loved reading about you and your friend Anna in high school in the Carolla…my best friend growing up in high school had a carolla too! And we listened to a lot of red hot chili pepppers too. Ha!

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

The synchronicities!! ✨ thank you so much Kate. I had no idea about Florence and Isa either when I started writing and researching the essay. Love when those kinds of surprise emerge in the process and help shape the piece into what it wants to be.

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Jayne Shore's avatar

I didn't know the left lung is smaller than the right -- "to make space for the heart." Awe-inspiring essay. <3

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Boy oh boy that means a lot coming from you. Thank you Jayne 🤍

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Makayla Wamboldt's avatar

This is such a beautiful piece Michelle! I love seeing the ways you connect things together.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you Makayla! I'm constantly admiring your essays on here, so grateful to write alongside you 🤍

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Darien Gee's avatar

Beautiful essay, Michelle!

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you so much Darien!

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Marissa Burdett's avatar

God, the beauty (and agony) of deep friendship <3 Not to be too "on the nose," but you did such a gorgeous job weaving this all together.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

❤️❤️ thankyouloveyoumeanit

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Kelly Bunch's avatar

Loved this so much. The story of your friendship, her apology, the round trip miles 👏

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Thank you Kelly! So grateful for spaces like Monday Writing Group where I can work this stuff out on the page 🤍

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Jenny Scott's avatar

Welp, this essay just anointed my morning with surprise & beauty, all 100s of words of it and 1500 miles of it. I’m new to your Substack, but I’ll dig in to old posts soon. Your writing is amazing. Thank you, thank you. Need this kind of medicine.

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Michelle LaCroix's avatar

Jenny! This absolutely made my day. Thank you so much for your kind words, and I'm so glad you're here 🤍

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

I love a braided essay, Michelle. This one was fantastic!

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Amanda Jaffe's avatar

I love a braided essay, Michelle. This one was fantastic!

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