Notes in my yearbook

You know what I love about the end of the year?

This is the time when the yearbooks are being signed and you say goodbye to your teachers, that you realize that you truly are a human being that is recognized as existing.

I get the common feeling that my struggles are what they are usually categorized as: invisible. When I miss days for being sick or have doctors appointments, I often think that no one realizes I’m not there. My absence is filled up. I am just gone.

But it is when I talk to my teachers and classmates and get their signatures that I am proven wrong. My absence leaves a hole that I thought didn’t exist.

I went up to my psychology/sociology teacher to turn in my final and get my yearbook signed, and he told me to stay so he could say something. He said something to me that I guess I didn’t realize until after the fact that I really needed to hear. He recognized that I dealt with a lot more than the average high schooler and said he was proud of me for getting through his class.

As I read through all the little notes in my yearbook, I am shown that I am recognized. I am wanted. I am truly seen with my struggles and worth. 

I will always struggle with quiet pain and hardships. But I know that while I get through my life with dark parts in my days, I have people at my school that are small candles that show me that I am not by myself or alone.