You did it. You made it this far. 

When you thought that was it. And when times got hard. 
You made it through the snickers and under-the-breath
conversations you weren’t supposed to hear. 

You made it through that inner voice nagging you.
Constantly driving you to madness, playing on your fears. 

You made it through sleepless nights and 
tears that could flood rooms. 
You did it. You did it scared. You did it nervous. 
You did it. Keep pushing through. 

Through the mistakes and hard-learned lessons, 
when you had to admit you were wrong and should’ve listened. 
Keep learning. Keep embracing the mistakes, they’re valuable lessons. 

But, look at you!
Look at all you’ve overcome.
You did it. This is your story, 
make sure you keep control of the pen. 
White knuckled grip, finger and thumb.

- R. Short