Michelle Detwiler

You know what kind of person Julie Fucking Mancini was? The kind of fucking bitch who had the audacity to ask you how YOU were when SHE had been diagnosed with cancer!

I had known who Julie was since my friend worked for her at Literary Arts as an "author minder", but had never really met her until 2018 when she was with College Possible. She was always just outside my orbit and when she finally entered it, it was like I had been living without the warmth of the sun and didn't even know it.

Like many others sharing their stories here, she would tell me how wonderful, capable and interesting she thought I was when I didn't believe those things about myself. But when she said it in her brutally honest, "I'm Julie Mancini and I have no time for horseshit" kinda way, it made me feel like the most seen, understood and respected person in the world.

I have a text thread with her that goes back 3 years and I am NEVER deleting it.

Me: You make me feel so at ease, content and comfortable when I'm around you, that it makes me just open up so I hope I don't talk too much and dominate the convo!

JFM: Are you kidding me? I love being with you so much. and how would I know if you talk too much when I'm so busy talking. You are a great friend for me.

I'm so mad that the amount of time I got to spend with her was so short, but so grateful for every goddamned second of it.

Thank you for this site and the chance to share. Much, much love to her family.

Yes, yes, yes.