When I was 10 years old, a new girl moved into our neighborhood.

She wasn't particularly funny or creative or any of the things I usually liked in a new

friend, but what she did have was a trampoline.

And as a kid, having a trampoline is like as an adult having a beachfront vacation

home.

So I flattered that girl and I brought her a plate of cookies I made because all I wanted

was not to know or love her, but to know and love her trampoline.

When I was a chemically dependent 19-year-old young woman living with eight people in a

two bedroom apartment and working in a coffee house, a regular customer took a liking

to me, a professional woman in her 20s, and I remember feeling special when she expressed

interest in me and my ideas and my stories.

I was desperate for connection.

So when she invited me to an event, I accepted.

Only to discover her interest in me had nothing to do with me as a person and everything

to do with her as someone embroiled in a multi-level marketing scheme.

She was trying to use me to get something for herself.

And I remember feeling foolish when I realized this, but it's just the shitty thing we humans

do to each other.

Sometimes we use each other for trampolines.

Sometimes we use each other for profit.

And sometimes we use each other because we're just fucking lonely.

I'm Nadia Bolzweber and you've stepped into the confessional.

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