Lilacs Against Stone

For much of my life, I've been defined by what happened to me. Foster care, trauma, medical neglect, chronic illness, cancer. There have always been people documenting my suffering, diagnosing my differences, and deciding which parts of my story mattered. But I am more than the things I've survived. I am someone who stops to admire lilacs. Who notices the colours of flowers, finds beauty in ordinary places, and still has a tremendous amount of love for the world. I don't want my life remembered only through medical records and stories of suffering. I want someone to know that, even in the middle of everything, I stopped to hold the flowers. And that mattered, too.