Stay Alive

To the first of my daughters to reach womanhood, who is on the tail-end of her battle with depression; and to all women who resonate with this:

You are worthy just because. You don't need to achieve anything. You are worthy without addendum to your name.

You don't have to be anyone other than yourself - sometimes sad, sometimes quirky crazy, sometimes sexy, sometimes profound.

You are human (for now), and it's temporary. Your aches and pains and despair - they're all part of humanness. You are worthy because beneath your human skin and bones, you are divine. You chose to be alive at this point in human history because your presence is important to me - and to many of us.


Stay alive.

Cry if you must.

Pull out your hair if you want to.

Throw an egg at the neighbor's door.

Steal a show.

Grow a mustache.

Write a terrible poem.

Be grammatically awful.

But stay alive.

Because one morning, you'll wake up to see yourself snapping out of whatever it is that has gripped you in fear. And your joy will be full. God has your back. He's got you in His hands. Maybe He's doing a cartwheel right now, which is why you're feeling down and nauseous. But He'll be back up. It's just a cartwheel. He's got you trained in aerial silk.