She said it like it was nothing.

“I looked up NMOSD last night.” You had to sit down. Because here’s what you’re used to. People nod while you explain it and you can see them not retaining a word. They call it MS when it isn’t. They ask if you’re better yet. They say their aunt had something like that and she’s fine now. Six months in, you’re still starting from zero every time it comes up, and after a while you stop bringing it up at all because the explaining is its own exhaustion. Then somebody goes home and reads about it. On her own. Without being asked. What she’s actually telling you is that she thought about you when you weren’t in the room. That she wanted to understand instead of just sympathize. That the next time you say you’re having a bad day she’ll have some idea what that means, and you won’t have to build the whole picture from scratch before she can meet you in it. It’s such a small thing. Twenty minutes and a search bar. And it lands like being handed something you didn’t know you were allowed to ask for. So if you love somebody with MS, lupus, or NMOSD, that’s the move. Go read about it tonight and then tell her you did. Watch what it does to her. And if somebody’s ever done that for you, put her in the comments. Let’s give those women their credit today. #WeAreILLMatic #ChronicIllnessCommunity #BlackWomenWithMS #LupusAwareness #NMOSD