You entered the ministry full-time in 2005 — was that a decision that was shaped by the loss of your brother?

"I was actually working as a youth director in addition to teaching kindergarten, and felt the call to ministry early on. I actually delayed going to seminary a year because my parents were not functioning after my brother's death. I didn’t want to leave home at that point…It was just the two of us [siblings]."

I'm sorry. That must still be so difficult.

"It is in ways that people don’t think about. I've lost my sibling, and now, as a middle-aged woman, what I have to look forward to is making those decisions about my parents' health care on my own. These are things you don’t think about. You’re supposed to have your siblings to deal with some of that family stuff, but I don't have that anymore. A sibling is a person who remembers your past and helps you look forward to your future. That's gone. I don't have that person."

What did watching Khizr Khan's speech at the Democratic National Convention mean to you, as a fellow Gold Star family member?

“Watching Mr. Khan brought back a lot of memories of what it was like for my parents very early on to lose their child, and the immense hurt and grief behind that. You can see it in Mr. and Mrs. Kahn's eyes that they are in an incredible amount of pain. I identified with that. I feel very humbled when other people share their pain, because that is something that is very hard to do. It takes a lot of courage for somebody to say, 'This is how awful things are, but you need to know about it.'"