Heart-shaped carabiner
Written May 15 2026
I have a little heart-shaped carabiner that I love very much. My mom gave it to me when she was in the hospital for the last time. She put it on the leg of my Cthulhu plush that I had given her to keep her company when I had a long day at school and couldn’t visit her. Only the plushie ever came back home with me, with that red heart around its leg, and it has sat on my bed like that for the past eleven, twelve years. It’s been with me through two moves, two universities, two relationships, two breakups and through a lot of dark days and it has always staid there like an anchor.
I recently put it on my belt loop instead of a big silvery-shiny steel carabiner. There is lots to be said about anchored ships that stay safely in the harbor and I’m sure other writers have done a much better job writing about that than I ever could. More than anything, I want to carry love into the world and make it a better place, to sow and to reap human kindness. I wear my heart on my sleeve now—or, well, on my hip. I hope I can make good on the promise contained in that little heart-shaped metal thing.