{"id":42177,"date":"2022-05-02T13:06:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T18:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/?p=42177"},"modified":"2022-05-02T13:06:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T18:06:16","slug":"a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter to the Ones I&#8217;ve Lost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, again, my dear friend. I thought of you today.<br \/>\nI just want to hug and tell you that we are all okay.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, how I wish I could see you, that smiling face again.<br \/>\nYour presence brought me so much joy with just the slightest grin.<\/p>\n<p>The time we spent together still means so much to me.<br \/>\nYou left a lasting impact that there will always be.<\/p>\n<p>We think about you always and we laugh about you, still.<br \/>\nYour memory is thought of daily, and probably always will.<\/p>\n<p>I know the days were often dark and it was hard to see,<br \/>\nbut you meant much to all of us \u2013 your family, friends, and me.<\/p>\n<p>I wish I would have recognized the signs when they were there.<br \/>\nWhen times got hard and burdens heavy, it wasn\u2019t yours to bear.<\/p>\n<p>Depression is a battle that messes with our minds.<br \/>\nIt can impact anyone, any place at any time.<\/p>\n<p>I still remember how I felt the day I got the news.<br \/>\nIt left a mark upon my heart like a soft and recent bruise.<\/p>\n<p>I cried for days and weeks on end, but when I think about it now,<br \/>\nI think of how you\u2019ve inspired me in more ways than you know how.<\/p>\n<p>Like when I see a farmer who is struggling with price,<br \/>\nI try to call and cheer them up, as a laugh could suffice.<\/p>\n<p>Or when I know somebody is struggling at home,<br \/>\nI hope I can ease their mind and know they aren\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n<p>You taught me the importance of telling others that you care,<br \/>\nbecause you never know when the day might come that they will not be there.<\/p>\n<p>Because of you I advocate for others\u2019 mental health.<br \/>\nA life is more valuable than any form of wealth.<\/p>\n<p>I know where you are and for that I can be<br \/>\nbrought a sense of comfort for I know that you are free:<\/p>\n<p>Free from the demons of your emotional despair<br \/>\nLooking out for all of us, an angel that we share.<\/p>\n<p>As you look down upon us, the people that you knew,<br \/>\nKnow that we are thinking just as much of you.<\/p>\n<p>Cause your memory is more than the way that your life ended<br \/>\nYou left behind a legacy that cannot be comprehended.<\/p>\n<p>Before I let you go and tell you, my friend, goodbye,<br \/>\nI just want to say one more time that you\u2019re my reason why:<\/p>\n<p>The reason why I advocate for the help that we deserve,<br \/>\nfarming folks, just like you, who are so underserved.<\/p>\n<p>We need resources, we need them now, please no longer bat an eye,<br \/>\nwe cannot lose another soul who was too young to die.<\/p>\n<p>So now, dear friend, the time has come for me to bid adieu.<br \/>\nJust know how much I miss your voice, your smile, but most of all, miss you.<\/p>\n<p><em>This piece was written as a part of Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\u2019s <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/farm-neighbors-care-campaign\/\"><em>Farm Neighbors Care<\/em><\/a><em> campaign and is a tribute to the many friends I have lost to suicide. While conversations regarding mental health can be uncomfortable, it is especially important to be a support system for our friends, neighbors and family members when they are going through tough times. To learn more about the warning signs of depression or how to support someone who is having thoughts of suicide, visit American Farm Bureau&#8217;s&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fb.org\/programs\/rural-resilience\/\"><em>Rural Resilience resource page<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cassie-Olson-web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31549 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cassie-Olson-web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"200\"><\/a>Cassie Sonnentag is Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\u2019s director of media relations and outreach. Her and her husband, Allen (Bud), have one daughter and live near Cadott where they are involved in their family\u2019s farm.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, again, my dear friend. I thought of you today. I just want to hug and tell you that we are all okay. Oh, how I wish I could see you, that smiling face again. Your presence brought me so much joy with just the slightest grin. The time we spent together still means so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":42178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[915],"tags":[1945,1776,1852,900,2025,1851],"coauthors":[2029],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Letter to the Ones I&#039;ve Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Letter to the Ones I&#039;ve Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hello, again, my dear friend. I thought of you today. I just want to hug and tell you that we are all okay. Oh, how I wish I could see you, that smiling face again. Your presence brought me so much joy with just the slightest grin. The time we spent together still means so [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFarmBureau\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassie Sonnentag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WIFarmBureau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WIFarmBureau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassie Sonnentag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassie Sonnentag\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b69e389261a1ae05353d568b2e282d70\"},\"headline\":\"A Letter to the Ones I&#8217;ve Lost\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\"},\"wordCount\":621,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cassie Sonnentag\",\"Farm Neighbors Care\",\"Farmer Mental Health\",\"featured\",\"Mental Health Month\",\"Rural Resilience\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Agriculture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\",\"name\":\"A Letter to the Ones I've Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"General Agriculture\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/category\/general-agriculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"A Letter to the Ones I&#8217;ve Lost\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/\",\"name\":\"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\",\"description\":\"A Voice for Farmers. A Vision for Agriculture.\u00ae\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/WFBF_Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/WFBF_Logo.png\",\"width\":1374,\"height\":252,\"caption\":\"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFarmBureau\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/WIFarmBureau\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wifarmbureau\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/wi-farm-bureau-federation\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/wifarmbureau\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wifarmbureau\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b69e389261a1ae05353d568b2e282d70\",\"name\":\"Cassie Sonnentag\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/author\/csonnentag\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Letter to the Ones I've Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Letter to the Ones I've Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","og_description":"Hello, again, my dear friend. I thought of you today. I just want to hug and tell you that we are all okay. Oh, how I wish I could see you, that smiling face again. Your presence brought me so much joy with just the slightest grin. The time we spent together still means so [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/","og_site_name":"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFarmBureau","article_published_time":"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassie Sonnentag","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@WIFarmBureau","twitter_site":"@WIFarmBureau","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassie Sonnentag","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassie Sonnentag","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b69e389261a1ae05353d568b2e282d70"},"headline":"A Letter to the Ones I&#8217;ve Lost","datePublished":"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/"},"wordCount":621,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","keywords":["Cassie Sonnentag","Farm Neighbors Care","Farmer Mental Health","featured","Mental Health Month","Rural Resilience"],"articleSection":["General Agriculture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/","name":"A Letter to the Ones I've Lost - Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-02T18:06:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","width":2048,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/general-agriculture\/a-letter-to-the-ones-ive-lost\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"General Agriculture","item":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/category\/general-agriculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A Letter to the Ones I&#8217;ve Lost"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/","name":"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","description":"A Voice for Farmers. A Vision for Agriculture.\u00ae","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#organization","name":"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/WFBF_Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/WFBF_Logo.png","width":1374,"height":252,"caption":"Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFarmBureau","https:\/\/x.com\/WIFarmBureau","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wifarmbureau\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/wi-farm-bureau-federation\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/wifarmbureau\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/wifarmbureau\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b69e389261a1ae05353d568b2e282d70","name":"Cassie Sonnentag","url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/author\/csonnentag\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Hope-Blog-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42177"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42183,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42177\/revisions\/42183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42177"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wfbf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}