A young woman who still carries the weight of being teased as a child learns to let go with the help of a friend.

The last picked for kickball
She sat on the bench
And stared at her sneakers below.

They snickered and teased her,
She wasn’t an athlete,
Her talents they’d all never know.

This shy little girl, with freckles and pigtails
Just wanted so much to fit in.
She longed for the day she could put it behind her
She longed for her life to begin.

Years passed, she blossomed, and moved far away
Yet never forgot all those jeers.
Cold stares in the hallway, and all of the whispers
How all of it drove her to tears.

She kept it all buried, just pushed it aside
Then one day it just overflowed
All of the torment she’d suffered in silence
She finally felt courage to show.

An adult now, successful with kids of her own
The years had so quickly passed by.
With all of these blessings, the thought of those days
Would still bring a tear to her eye.

A dear friend she trusted was with her one day.
She told her of when she was small.
“While I can’t take away all the pain of the past,”
“Maybe this will make sense of it all.”

“Today when you look in the mirror, my friend
You see all that you have become
A wife and a mother, a dear friend to me
With a family, a job, and a home.”

“The days of your youth, you can’t take away
Be grateful for them ---- for you see
The trials you have weathered in days before now
Shaped the woman that you’ve come to be.”


Traci Hayner Vanover Copyright 1999