“Moments in Time That Define Who We Are: Resilience” by Abigail Smith

I have never doubted the definition of Resilience; the ability to withstand and recover from difficulties has been the climax of my family’s biography before I was born.

I would be rich if I counted how often people have told me, “I think differently than those around me.”

The question is, when did that statement become my reality? What moment in time defined the shift in perspective?

My father’s kidneys began to fail the second he took his first breath, and in his words, ever since, he has been surviving on “borrowed time.”

From a young age, I understood that the yellow pill bottles on the counter were a reflection of his daily battle; however, my brain fought with the reality of his circumstances for as long as it could.

To me, he was the epitome of strength.

One random day in high school, I sat at an old desk and watched as my teacher exhaled a shaky breath she took seconds after answering the phone. I felt the atoms shift under my feet and swallow me whole; before she could utter a word, my body knew the call was about my father.

If I were to close my eyes today, I could feel the piercing cold air on my skin, smell the sterilization, and see the empty hospital lobby I found myself in after that phone call.

My hand clutched my phone as my friends gossiped about their minuscule high school days, and in the blink of an eye, it all shifted for me.

As my friends talked about their crushes and gossiped about the girl in their fifth period, “they just couldn’t stand.” I sat in a hospital lobby waiting for the verdict on my father’s life.

It was clear that I could no longer relate.

My father survived that day but would spend years in and out of the hospital before receiving a transplant seven years later.

However, being a teenager never felt right again.

Sharing the latest gossip suddenly didn’t taste right on my tongue; talking about a crush felt pointless, and settling into simple was never as relaxing as it was before I experienced the brisk air of that hospital lobby.

Defining moments are often not followed by fairy dust and shooting stars. Instead, they are the moments that feel like shedding a layer of skin as you understand the bigger picture.

I used to be okay with simple, but it is impossible to live the “Once upon a time” fairytale you used to believe when you get a taste of reality.

Resilience is power, but it is also hardships.