Faded Pictures

I tried to paint a picture in my mind of

the perfect family

Happy mom

happy Dad

happy child

no worries in life

But this picture never comes out real

But what picture is ever real if it's not captured by your eyes itself

The picture is a single mom

struggling with a broken child that doesn't know what a dad is but  knows they have a father

where my mom was my dad and my mom

and my dad was a movie never seen

my mother walked around head held high like everything was okay

only reason her head wasn't down was because that will mess up the balance of worries on her shoulder

where the child wishes and prays she can take some worries off but wasn't strong enough to hold the weight

where every step got harder but we got stronger

where the father tries to turn into a dad so we keep him in the picture

where my picture is not just a picture

but a story

not of the perfect family but my family