Pain can definitely age us... I've come across my own box of memories and realized how different things were then. It's almost jarring, and bittersweet too in a way. That there was innocence in our past and though we have changed and overcome so much now, it can be emotional to process how MUCH we had to grow in order to be where we are today. If only we could warn our past selves... but I hope you are proud of the progress and that, even though no one should have to go through such hardships, you've made it through so much.

Thank you, as always, for sharing your voice in this. Your poems are always raw and I relate a great deal to them, especially in coming to terms with the hardest parts of our lives and learning how to cope with that.