Rose Colored Glasses

You look at me through your rose colored glasses telling me the words you think I want to hear. You live your life in a fantasy where everything ends as happily ever after. You wave your magic wand as if to make it all go away. But I do not live in this world. My world is one of fear and sorrow. Happy endings rarely exist.

You hide behind you rose colored glasses to hide from reality. You may think these words or those that I want to hear, but rather they are the ones you want to say. You refuse reality. You say it is to help me, an act of selflessness. But no. You are the selfish one. These words are meant to make YOU fell better. I feel anger as you defy the truth. You belittle me by giving me your platitudes.

Take off those glasses. Be strong and accept reality, my reality. This is no fairy tale, but rather a world of stark truth. Yet though there is dark, there is light. Joy and pain. Fear and Hope. Take off your rose colored glasses, and you will live again.

Breathe Easy

I lay there as I look at you breathing. In. Out. In. Out. I see the muscles move as you fight for every breath. You are a fighter. A courageous warrior. You do not give up. You do not give in. You fight with every cell in your body. I see the hurt in your eyes. You are so utterly and completely tired. Yet you continue. In. Out. In. Out. You may not have leaped tall buildings. Or saved the world from impending doom. Yet, you are a hero. My hero. With every breath you take, a battle has been won. Others cannot possibly understand the fight you face every moment. They run. They play. Yet you cannot even remember what it was like to breathe easy. Did you ever breathe easy? Each breath for you is a championship won. I look at you with love and admiration. In one breath, you accomplish more than others can in a lifetime. I can only hope to be half as strong as you. In. Out. In. Out.

In honor of those who fight so valiantly against lung disease. They are true heroes.

Sacrifice

My heart breaks. I cry the tears of those that are lost - the warriors of this disease. They are children. Too young to be sacrificed. And sacrificed is what they are. It is not their time. They are but young innocent souls. They have yet to unfurl their beautiful butterfly wings and fly through the world. They haven't breathed the beautiful air or felt the sun on their face. They haven't yet felt the sand in between their toes, nor the wind in their hair. They are young, so full of life and opportunity. Yet all too soon they are taken from us. Why? Why I ask, as I shake my head in tears. I hold my heart in pieces, those that are no longer with us. I hold them as a piece of my heart that they have taken with them. The tears stream down my face as I cry out their name. Why? Why? Why did you take them? They are only a baby in this world. So much more to live. So much more to love. A world of experiences awaiting them. Yet, you took them. You ended their life before it was yet to begin. Why? Why? Why?

In memory of Cynthia Martinez, a beautiful and wonderful person, who touched the life of so many. A CF Warrior. May she breathe easy.

Also many others, whose life was cut too short by CF and other lung diseases. May you all breathe easy.