Keep Hope

When I was in the fifthe grade, I had a group of friends in which I adored. One of them however had a hidden spite for me, and convinced this group of girls to corner me on the playground to inform me that I wasn’t allowed to hang out with them anymore. They told me I was “fat” and “annoying” among other things. It broke my heart, and I took my time returning to class after the recess bell had rung. Walking into class balling my eyes out would have only made things worse. The year quickly ended, and my favorite girls in the group continued to invite me over for play dates, so I moved on. After all, middle school brings a new school and new friends. Years later, after I had lost a lot of weight playing high-school sports and taking gym in college, I ran into the big bad bully at a wedding. She all of a sudden didn’t seem so high and mighty. It was obvious she had a little girl of her own now, and a boyfriend who wasn’t the father. As I had been flying through college, had an amazing relationship with a man I loved (at the time), this girl who made me so upset for months, had been struggling to raise a daughter on her own. Of course, looking as good as I did in that moment (in my red silk dress) I walked straight up your her and watched her jaw drop as I shook her hand. Keep Hope, because being ugly in order to fight the nastiness in the world will deprive you of these moments. You only have control over yourself, but have influence over those around you. I pray Danielle has a great life, and her daughter never has to experience what she put me through. I hope in that moment, Danielle realized how wrong she was, and I hope she raises the bar for her daughter.