The gift of life

From the moment we are born 

We are given a gift

And at first we don't realize it

As children we think less about the why and the how

And more about the I want this, I want it now

As we grow older 

We learn about death 

And how our gift isn't permanent

We learn that life is not without rules,

That the law is not all that we should follow

We are taught to be kind

And what bodies are "best"

"You can't eat that if you want to look like them"

We learn "boys will be boys"

To just ignore it,

We learn this gift is not always pleasant

We learn some days life is not about joy,

Sometimes its about pleasing others and making money

We learn nothing in life is free,

That even necessities cost us money

We learn life is not fair,

And evil exists,

"And if this is what we learned, why do we love this gift?"

We also learned to love,

We learned what flowers smelled like

We learn how it feels to see a rainbow the first time

We learned how to love,

And how to let go

And we learned how to laugh until we fall on the floor

We learned to love music

And we learned to write poems

And we learned that even loss can give us hope

We learned about swimming and walks on the beach 

And when your room is cold but your bed is just right

We learned all the good along with the bad

So we had something to remember when we got too sad

We learned that this gift can be molded and shaped 

And that you can't change everything 

But you can make a change