I Am Still My Own

And some days

I just need a reminder

That I'm still a person.

I'm not only someone's girlfriend

Or someone's daughter

Or a student

Or an intern

Or a young woman

Looking for a job

And an apartment.

I'm a person.

Wholly a person.

I like country music

And the windows down

And I get tired on Thursday afternoons.

I love church

And I love dressing in new variations

Of the same clothes.

I hold onto things with meaning

And I deeply miss my grandpa.

I like coffee

And I secretly like to be outside when it rains

I've got my own quirks

And my own personality

Just because

I intimately known

By so many people

Does not mean

That I am any less my own.

To be known

Is to be loved.

But to be known

Is not to be undone.

I am still my own,

Even as I am known.

03/05/24