Raising a Child.

They told me I could do what ever I set my mind to,

Said that all of my hard work would pay off

Banned the work can’t in their house and replaced it with can.

Never give up they said,

Dream big and go hard they said

They told me that every step I took, every word I read, every grade Id get is one step closer

Closer to success, to be great, to be what they knew I could be. What they wanted their little girl to be.

They told me to do it.

And I did. 

I read at three, that was easy.

Won spelling bees, was on the chess team, and got A’s. Wrote poetry, played soccer, and received a black belt in karate. 

You couldn’t stop me. I was going to win. I was going to save lives and write novels, travel the world and find love.

But then I turned 15. They never warned me that Root Beer could taste so funny, never taught me that men carried around phallic knives in their pants, that would butcher your insides, give you nightmares, and murder your innocence. 

They never told me that being different rendered hate, and it mattered what food I ate because anything above a size three is not acceptable in society. 

They never taught me that small hips and big tits where the tools to finding love.

Never taught me the value of sucking the right man’s dick.

They never told me I would find feeling at the end of a razor blade running along my stomach

Never explained how to mend a broken heart

Never told me that I would get the self esteem beaten out of me by age 18.

They never explained how I would have to pop pills to find happiness.

Never told me I would watch children die of incurable diseases.

They never said it would take $50,000 a year to get a bachelors degree that will do absolutely nothing for me.

Never told me that friends were rare and family will never be there when you need them.

But they did tell me that they believed in me. 

Told me that working through challenges would help me grow.

They told me that it would get better, that each struggle would end in more strength. 

That this life will be worth living for, that death is the cowards way out, and luckily I listened.