A Letter to One Third of AUNT

I wrote this for you because you need to know that you are so much more than what you believe and what is happening to you. Love you.

Things are difficult for you. I know that this is an understatement. You get upset because you feel like you are not enough and that you never will be. You cry over people who are not worth your time or your tears. You fret over things that most people wouldn't think about twice. You see a person who is weak, who is broken and who is less than exceptional and entirely ordinary. It breaks my heart. I wish that just for a day you could see yourself through my eyes. To me you are incredible. I see all of the pain, and all of the heart ache, but I do not see weakness. I see strength. I see the effort it takes for you just to make it to the end of the day. I see the times when you have been distraught because someone else has raised and then dashed your expectations and yet again it seems like they have trampled on your dreams. I know you see someone who is questioning their existence and doesn't see the point.

Well I wish you could see what I see: A woman who is fighting a war in her head which few understand and even fewer will live. I see a woman who is broken by this war, disheartened and down, but still standing. I see strength in this: you still have the strength to get to the end of the day, to know who you are and fight for that. I see a woman who is fiercely loyal, kind and caring. You take crap from no one and are not afraid to speak your mind. I admire the courage in that and there is something so beautiful in a heart and mind which has taken so much pain and abuse and still say: "No. I will say what I believe. I don't need to accept your opinion as my own." I see a friend who is a whole ocean away and still asks how I am doing, and who is still able to love and support me. I see a woman whose battle scars and life story only make her more powerful, and more beautiful. I wish that you could see that, and I wish you could understand that you are so much more than what happens to you. You are so much more than what you believe and what you see.