Becoming Real

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams


I read this on a dear friend's blog.  The eyes and ears of my heart stood at attention.  It's like God whispered right to me, as I read this, that sometimes, it takes losing your hair, or getting your joints messed up, or getting sick, or having to live in pain, or with a trach.... to become REAL.


I'm telling you I am not the same person I was before this disease.  I am Real now.  I don't mince words.  I don't flatter people if I don't mean it.  I don't freak out about the little things in life that aren't going to matter a week from now let alone a year from now.


I value life.  I value friendships.  I love more deeply.  I love more freely.  I trust much.  Maybe too much.  But I'd rather be that way than all skeptical and critical inside.


Sometimes it takes getting a little shabby, having your "hair loved off", and going through the wringer of life's washing machine a time or two to become real.  

' "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.' "-The Velveteen Rabbit

And it does hurt.  But once you are Real, you don't want to go back, even though you may face further pain.  Because it's so much better to be Real.  And "once you are REAL, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

And ya know what? There will always be people who don't understand.  And that's okay.  Because ugly is on the INSIDE, and Real is through and through.  And Real is better, because Real doesn't happen to people who are easily broken.  

Real is strong.  And I am Real.