...I thought they were pimples. I layed on my stomach, on top of a bed cover with a floral duvet. the unseen doctor began to exam my back. Hmm, he said. This one here is a worm. I felt him tugging, I felt discomfort, it felt small but long. i felt the snap when the worm was detached from my skin. the doctor placed it on the bed and I could see a thin white string but as I tried to touch it with my pointing finger, it moved and wriggled around. the doctor pulled out another but this one was shorter. the third was tinier. just as I was pushing off the bed, because the exam was done, my daughter crawled across the bed, her feet too close to the area where the worms were placed. immediately, I searched for the long worm. I picked it up with a tweezer and as it got to eye level, it tried to get in my mouth. I closed my lips immediately and blocked it. my husband than disposed of it. the second worm was tossed but the tiniest one was not found. I feared it attached itself to my daughter. I felt small relief that she was wearing a pair of dark colored socks that could protect her feet. if it did attach itself, it would be spotted.
It wasn't until last summer that i felt the need to write down my mother's and father's personal stories It wasn't until last week that i felt the value in each individual piece I don't feel value in my other pieces or my work at my office job which helps so many people but what is the value of a life lived in Chicago, as a woman, as a brown woman as a woman who labels herself Mexican and chubby is it only up to me to build this value, to build it inside of me so that others can feel then see that i do belong here that my words belong on this page for you to read
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