The day I discovered prejudice. 

When I was in 3rd grade, I was on the playground with a guy friend. His sister was in middle school, but they got some free time and were allowed to come outside. He decided that I should meet her, and I was super excited because I had a crush on him and thought this was a good sign. We walked over to her on the swings, and he said "Hi (her name)! This is my friend Bobbie!" He was so giddy to introduce us. She said, "Bobby? That's a boy's name. Pull down your pants, I bet you're really a boy."

I didn't crush on her brother after that.

This taught me that it doesn't matter what I look like on the outside or who I am as a person, some people will always just have their automatic and unkind prejudices. It taught me to be ready for them and to fight against them.

The day I discovered adulthood. 

This was the day I was assaulted in a relationship.

It taught me that I need to learn how to fight back because sometimes the people that are meant to fight for me will be the ones fighting against me.

The day I realized how clueless some people are. 

This was the day my assaulter told me that he didn't deserve my anger. He had gone through more in his life than I had, and I needed to cut him some slack.

It taught me that I can fight for myself. I learned to stand up and put my foot down. I realized that I wanted to be a role model for any girl scared and confused about leaving a relationship due to an assault. So that's exactly what I did.

The day(s) I realized that you just can't be friends with everyone. 

Honestly, this has happened so many times. Sometimes a guy won't stop asking for a relationship or getting mad at me or maybe a friend clearly doesn't care about me anymore.

At some point, if your "friend" is treating you like trash or just ignoring the things you say, they're not worth it. You only need to support those who also support you.

The day my grandmother died. 

I was called down to the office at school randomly and saw that my sister was also called down. When I got there, my parents told me that my grandma had died. We went home and cried for hours.

It was a hard day, but after it, I discovered that my family is strong. We are capable of getting through the toughest of times. And I gained a new angel that day.

The day my mom was told she needed new lungs. 

One of the events leading up to this was the first time she went to the hospital for an extended amount of time. One day I got home from school and my mom wasn't home. I realized it was the day she had meetings after work so I became less concerned. Then, a few hours later I still hadn't heard from her. I called multiple times with no answer. (Sorry, for these calls, Mom, I'm sure they were slightly traumatizing.) Then we got a call from the hospital. When my dad finally answered, they told us that my mom had an episode and that he needed to go to the hospital.

A short time after, they told my mom she could never smoke again, needed to have oxygen supplied to her and needed a lung transplant.

This event and all events since then have taught me how to be strong even when everything is going wrong. It also taught me how to be independent and to be a caregiver for others.