Growing Pains

For so long they told it me it was growing pains,

A word I soon grew so familiar with,

But growing pains don't make you cry for months,

Tears streaming down my face as my mother tells the doctor, this ain't normal, not for a child,

Or at least that's what we thought

I was only ten when it started, what a journey we have been on,

Didn't know how strong I was then, but now I'm warrior

A warrior of arthritis, with a face that can stand through rounds of fury,

From needles in my arm every week for years, 

To catching a virus from the medicine and ending up in the hospital when I was in fifth grade.

This illness isn't normal, no not in the media,

But so many kids out there struggle in silence with this pain,

Kids younger, older, and people in all age groups, 

We feel alone when it begins, a stranger to the swelling,

Joints all across your body acting with rage,

Its ceases to stop, no matter the day,

Whether it's your first day of high school or your first dance,

We all have pain that can take our lives away,

Exclude us from the world we are living in,

Hard to join sports, cause our bodies can't take it,

Hard to look fine to those around you, when your body is aching,

Only one wrong move and we'll be out for the count,

Whether its from swollen eyes, or in a wheelchair,

Mama said gotta know your limitations, because no one else will,

Now I thank God everyday, for the good things and bad, 

Cause I know people who have it worse than I,

Life's a challenge, everyone knows that,

Especially when they tell you what you got is growing pains,

My life changed from that moment forward,

Now mature and knowing that infusions are part of the monthly deal, 

Gotta watch out for my back and spine, cause these things are my Achilles' heel.

Surgeries in the past on my thumb that made me stronger, 

Cause not everyone has to start middle school with a cast on the first couple of weeks for two years in a row,

But I couldn’t have done it alone,

So thank you to my mom who always fought for me, 

Even 10 years later, I'm  still fighting,

Though to anyone who has Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis knows, your in this march for the long game and growing pains were only the beginning.