On a walk today
I hear my daughter
saying words I never
imagined coming from 
her lips. Not that she
doesn’t love me, 
not that she doesn’t 
respect me. 
Responding to someone
talking about how I 
am perceived as a person
her words were,
“and I am becoming 
more like her everyday”.
My daughter,  who has 
met the life long 
challenge of being 
diabetic since she was 
eleven years old,
who has felt the harsh
reality of dishonesty 
and disrespect from
her father,  who has
been called the “smart” 
twin instead of the
“pretty ” one by 
insincere judging 
adolescent peers,
who has been working 
since she was seventeen, 
who was so angry at me
for so long because I 
couldn’t figure how to
get away from our 
circumstances, 
this child wants to be
connected to me.
My heart, my brain,
my world expanded 
because I’ve been trying 
to be more like her.

KW  6/26/23