Growing Pains

Growing Pains

It's been so long
since our lives learned
how to exist without each other.

Still, there isn't a day m wander through my mind,
or a moment I don't wonder
what it would be like
to see you again.

I carry the blame like a shadow,
telling myself I was the reason
the distance grew between us.

Maybe if I had never grown up,
if time had stayed still,
this ache wouldn't have found a home in me.

They call them growing pains,
as if giving them a name
makes them easier to bear.

So if one morning I wake
still reaching for a life
that only exists behind my eyes,

come sit beside me
and lean close enough to whisper,

"It's alright, honey.
It was just a memory."

And for one impossible moment,

let the world forget
what it took from us,

and let everything
feel normal again.

About the Author

My story begins in a quiet suburb just outside Los Angeles, where I was raised by Chinese immigrant parents whose sacrifices quietly shaped the life I now have the privilege of living. Growing up between two cultures taught me that belonging isn't something you find once—it's something you continue to discover.

At twenty-six, I'm still learning who I am. Not through grand milestones, but through conversations that linger, friendships that endure, love that transforms, loss that humbles, and the ordinary days that somehow leave the deepest imprint.

These pages are where I return to those moments. They are my attempt to preserve them, to understand them, and perhaps to remind someone else that we're all finding our way, one story at a time.