The numbers 2016 will forever be engraved into my mind,

Not because of me being confined,

But in truth, I became defined,

By all of this year’s problems combined.

 

2016, it started simply divine,

After a Christmas and New Year so fine.

But I didn’t know what was in store,

In fact, the whole was something to abhor.

 

One of my little sisters had a surgery that was large,

The weight of the stress was more than a barge.

When she finally got home her troubles would just multiply,

As she was immobilized and only in bed could she lie.

 

Once she recovered I thought our troubles were through,

But then there came an event out of the blue.

I had almost forgotten my seventeenth birthday,

Then I discovered my father would miss my special day.

 

The troubles then I tried to ignore,

But then problems amassed even more.

One of my adopted siblings had a mental breakdown,

This would have been easier if the hospital was closer to town.

 

Apart from that I also started working two jobs this summer,

Working and not playing in my off time was a real bummer.

While my friends frolicked and had fun,

I was stuck working, out in the hot sun.

 

As if that wasn’t enough,

Life was about to get even more tough.

School only got harder and calculus was horrid,

It was a miracle that I navigated waters so torrid.

 

By late November I thought that the bad was through,

But then on December 5th first I lost a friend too.

Words do not describe the loss and anguish inside,

Only by God’s grace could I then abide.

 

But of all of the trials I faced I regret not one,

For through them all my character grew a ton.

Yes it hurt and the pain may never subside,

But I try to see the silver lining or the best side.

 

2016, the year left me with scars,

But I am not confined by grief’s bars.

2016 shaped me into who I now am, that is what mattered,

I am proud to be me, bruised and tattered.