Letting Go | Teen Ink

Letting Go

May 17, 2012
By purplegirl18 BRONZE, Overland Park, Kansas
purplegirl18 BRONZE, Overland Park, Kansas
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. - AA Milne in "Winnie the Pooh"


I ascend rung by rung up the ladder
It creaks under my weight
mirroring the quivering in my hands, my feet
as I step onto the roof, shingles shedding beneath my feet
needing the firm hand offered to avoid falling through
to the ramshackle house below
I can’t breathe. I climb
Higher
Higher
But panic
all the way
to the ground
I feel paralyzed
inadequate
guilty
for taking up room for ten hours in a van
to pick up the trash of those who aren’t afraid
I go back to the lodge
and lie down
my head aching with the fear, the worry and the stress
And yet somehow,
the next day I’m back
Climbing the ladder
Grabbing the hand
Scooting upward
and upward
until I’m at the peak
That’s when I pick up a hammer and
breathe


The author's comments:
I wrote this about a mission trip I went on when I was in eighth grade. Roofing when you're afraid of heights? Not fun. But facing my fear made me closer to the people I went on the trip with and the God we were there to worship.

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