I am what I am. I am a 17 year old girl, but you don’t have to tell me because I know that well enough, thank you. I am a young girl with her whole life ahead of her; no, I am a young girl with her whole life forced upon her. I am what I am.
I am a perfectionist who needs to create a 365-day planner, color coated with sticky notes and highlights – tonight. I am what I am. I am an enthusiast about books that make you cry harder than any movie ever could. I am the salty and buttery fingers that dive into the bowl during a movie. I am the guilty pleasure of indulging in foods and beverages unworthy of my submission. I am who I am. I am a lover of 5 a.m. coffee and sleepy eyes I have yet to see. I am a hopeless romantic who “don’t need no man” but yearns for a man to touch me in ways his hands cannot. I am what I am.
I am the byproduct of an unconditionally loving, but discriminatory and broken family. But you don’t need to know that. You don’t need to know that I am only who I am because of fear of becoming what they are. I am what I am. I am the mistakes I have made and I am the lessons I’ve learned. But listen closely and hear me clearly. I am NOT the gap in-between my teeth. I am not the acne on my face. I am not my 2 a.m. feelings. I am what I am.
I am the violent sobs that fall without permission on the alter. I am what they call a “bible-thumping, Jesus freak” Christian. Do you know anything about that? I am what I am. I am His piercing screams coming from the cross and I am His most dearly beloved. I am what I am. I am loved and I am cherished and I am His. I am blessed and I am forgiven and I am sanctified. I am the daughter of the one true King and He has called me by name. I am what I am.