Leading My Lost Soul

I am from strength  Blood, Sweat, and Tears  I am from suffering Emotionally, Mentally, and Physically  I am from determination  A Better life, job, people, and self I am from happiness  Reunions, Laughter, and Hugs  I am from my ancestors  Their past, present, and future  I am from life  Their love, decisions, and mistakes  I am from the house in Sherman Heights  I am from the house in Logan Heights  I am from the house nowhere near  I am from places all around the world  I am from the flag that’s green, white, and red  I am from the flag that’s red, white, and blue I am from, not just these two  I am from the City of Mountains  I am from my botas vaqueras  I am from the city and from el Rancho  I am from running barefoot through the streets  I am from a place we stay safe from hurricanes  I am from never ending sleepless nig...

My name is Leslie, of that, I can almost be sure. My birth certificate indicates my birth back to the date of July 1997. If I was born in 1997, why have I lived my life feeling as if I wasn’t, why am I not breathing?  The greatest part of me has always been missing. That I have always been certain of. It’s extremely difficult to find the right words to describe what my family means to me. They are everything, my family is the only thing that gives me life. You would look at me, and think I have it all. However, my family is the one exception, they are what I have never been able to keep. In my twenty-two years of life, I have only experienced a limited amount of happiness. I swear. To me, happiness comes and goes. It all begins when I finally get to be with my family. Happiness becomes me because I get to see them face to face, I get to hug them, I finally get to feel loved, I finally feel like I’m breathing. The oxygen I need on a daily basis finally feels like it’s doing its...