My life is the true definition of "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." If you really want your life to be happy it will be. It's just how you look at it. Like my mother told me if she had one breast it would have broken her. Me, not even close. I mean I had rough patches and more then a few moments when I broke down in tears. But that doesn't mean that I didn't try and be happy.
Like I've said before I didn't have many friends when I was very little. I spent most of my childhood being teased, bullied and ignored. As the years past I found myself nine years old. A milestone for me. Surprisingly there was one person that made this point in my life special. Her name was Jessica and she was my first and only true friend.
Jessica's family was dirt poor. Like ramen noodles for dinner every night poor. All of the other girls that were my "friends" were very well off. I don't know if this made a difference in her accepting me or not but it seemed like she and her family were kinder then other's I had met before.
At a sleepover both of us decided to play dress up, I was nervous and tried to hide myself as much as possible. As we were adorning ourselves with pretty dresses and pretending to be princesses I turned to see her staring at me. She had noticed that I was different and was curious. I took a deep breath and explained. I was afraid of what would happen next. I told her that it was how I was born and that I only had one breast. She smiled and shrugged and said a sentence that changed me forever. "You look the same to me." I asked her to keep it a secret. She never told a soul.
It gave me hope. After my short nine years of living I had found someone that didn't care if I had one breast and treated me like any other girl. We spent almost all of our time together I saw her almost every day. And when the other girls teased me she would stand up for me.
She made me realize that I didn't have to hide and that there was nothing wrong with me. Her friendship meant more to me than I could have ever explained to her. I don't think she ever knew how much she really meant to me. She started a path for me that changed my life forever. It made me look at myself in a completely different way and I knew that I could find other friends in the future.
I was heart broken when she moved away. Her father finally found a job which was great for their family but it was far away. We kept in touch through letters for a little bit but this was before the convenience of social networking.
I still think of her often and hope that she is well. I will never forget my first friend and how she impacted my life. I will always be grateful to her for showing me the first kindness from a friend. It opened up doorways that helped me become friends with many more girls.
If you have children encourage them to love and accept people and other children that are different and treat them like anyone else. You never know how much this could impact someone's life. Kids can sometimes be so mean. If one person reaches out, just one, it could change someone's life forever.
Thank you Jessica, for being my friend.
Until next time...
You're Perfect just the way you are
No one's as Special as you
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