It took the end of the world to learn how to smile, to laugh, to love and be loved…
And finally belong somewhere.
It was the broken that helped me to finally begin to heal.
...
This life I have now, some would think it's a stark contrast to my past. In reality, it isn't all that different for me.
Growing up there was no laughter when I was being terrorized at school. There was no love in my home. On my walks home from the bus stop, I would see other children smiling and hugging their parents, longing to know what it was like to be hugged and kissed like a mother would their child, to laugh and smile. Sometimes, when my father was sleeping or out the house, I would stand on my stepstool and practice smiling in the bathroom mirror for hours; for some, reason, it never looked or felt right. I had given up on that after a while… I'd given up on a lot of things, I think. I was alone all my life. Even now at the end of the world…