Tomorrow marks 6 months since I had life affirming surgery and I have been thinking about just how much my life is different today. Courage is an attribute I have struggled with all my life. Living in a world that didn't function like I did and certainly didn't treat me like I deserve to be here has been difficult to say the least. And while the world is still killing folks on the daily who share one or more of my identities, I have built up the courage to listen to the voice inside (the divine, G-d?) that has always been there, encouraging me to be authentically me. This voice led me to bring out ALL of the first aid supplies my parents had in the medicine cabinet to the neighborhood kids in Kansas City, MO to help mend scrapped knees and bruised arms. It comforted me when I cried my eyes out when the rejection letter came from UMKC's 6 year medical program and guided me as I left home and moved to Saint Louis, MO and my Jewish soul came home while I studied at SLU