I will never stop fighting for you. You are perfect just as you are. You are perceptive. It has to be frustrating to have people constantly underestimate you. You have an intuition about people, places, and nature. When you assert yourself in your way, I see you. You deserve friends, that understand you and accept you, exactly as you are. Beautiful flaws and all.

Advocacy is exhausting. I feel like I’ve spent the last six months fighting, some battles big, and others small. Why though? Why is there always a fight?

This journey is hard on a Mom. I know my child better than anyone. I can look at Sienna and know what she wants, needs, and feels. A mother’s intuition is her guiding light. It’s a force inside me, that I couldn’t argue with even if I tried.

This year, more than ever, it’s becoming evident that Sienna isn’t the one who needs to change. Things shouldn’t be this hard. The world should be more flexible, kind, and accepting.

So, I will keep suiting up for battle. I will wipe the tears from my eyes, the sweat from my brow, and the dust from my boots and I will fight.

Some people say moms in this community are strong, in a complementary way. I hear it all the time. You are so strong they say, but I’m not. I try to get the tears out in the shower and keep it together. I break down with my friends and I lie to the outside world. At some point in the last couple months, hearing you’re so strong felt like a farce. I am not strong. I am hardened. I am hardened by the endless battle that is advocacy.

But I will keep going and maybe someday a mom who follows in my footsteps won’t have to be hardened. Maybe, just maybe, the world will bend and stretch into a place that has room for everyone.