Lost in Wonder
I’m sitting on a bench after a Cross Country race. I black out and my body starts shaking, but after some rest and water, I feel better. Like everyone else, I assume it’s from the run - but a couple of days later in 8th grade history class, my body begins seizing out of nowhere. I am completely conscious and able to feel every horrible spasm as it lasts for the next 45 minutes. My precious school nurse does everything she can to keep me safe and comfortable, and my parents quickly show up. 19 years to the day, I look back and lament a life filled with so much trauma. Years of bullying because my seizures were labeled as ‘fake’ for ‘attention.’ I was told by adults in my life that I was dramatic and immature, because for some reason, I was expected to act older than I was simply because I was sick. At 15, I was physically assaulted by a nurse who left bruises on my body to ‘wake me up’ from the seizure she was trying to prove wasn’t real. I lost friends who got tired of my ...