Sometimes it makes you stronger.  People say that, sometimes.  And sometimes it’s true.  And sometimes you get through it.  The thing that hurt you.  And sometimes you’re afraid. 

But then, some time. 

Maybe a lot of time.  Whatever time you need.  And that thing that sometimes makes you stronger, makes you stronger.  And time and strength makes you — you. 

And sometimes you can look back and really feel that strength.  And then see the time now — and think, sometimes, I am really something.

My first notebook had a big chief on the cover. Maybe it was my first attempt to be like that big chief. To be black and bold and brave. I wanted that. I wanted to be brave. And so I opened the cover. Behind the strength of the big chief , I placed my pencil between the lines and I wrote. I wrote to not be alone. I wrote to hear the words inside my heart – the words that if brought to life would make me a warrior too. I didn’t have the words for that, words like warrior and fearless… but I had a big chief red notebook and I had a pencil. So I wrote. And I drew. And I came to life between the rules. I would live there. In lead and ink, first in printed, then cursive bravery — live there, until that warrior dared me off the page.