Beautiful
2:34 a.m. Kulp 301. Goshen, Indiana. Monday, February 28, 2000.
"So then I said to him, when I could muster it up without crying, "It's so hard to have had someone there to tell me everyday - or practically everyday - that I am beautiful. And then it's gone, and no one -"
Hattie interrupts me and the light next to my bed casts shadows across the wall, "You know I was just thinking right now, in the light, that you look beautiful."
We both sort of sit there, holding back tears. I cup my hands over my face and say thank you. It's an unsteady moment but it's truthful, and it's sad in some ways.
I wait, and then continue, "So, I said, no one is telling me I'm beautiful everyday. I have to tell myself that.""
