PHOENIX

2.

"Morgan, dinners ready come on" tony calls out and a little girl about age 4 comes running towards him. She throws up her arms and Tony picks her up
"Oh man you're getting big. Almost too much for this old man" Tony laughs
"You're not old" the little girl laughs
"Wow that's a big compliment thank you" tony smiles

"What's for dinner?" Morgan asks as Tony walks up to their porch. They had a beautiful house next to a lake, a dock going out into it. A beautiful cozy house in the woods, with a big porch out front.
"Only the best food there ever was, cheeseburgers!" Tony exclaims
"Yay! I love cheeseburgers" Morgan cheers
"Well come on then let's go wash our hands then we can eat" tony tells her and they both go into the bathroom cleaning their hands.

"Ready?" Tony ask the little girl
"For food, always!" She laughs as she takes off sprinting

She runs into the living room where the table was set Tony right behind her. They both sit down before Tony looks at her.
"Now we're both forgetting a very very big rule" he says
"Wait, which rule?" She asks him confused
"We gotta thank the cook!" He tells her
"You're right!" She yells and jumps down from her chair

"Thank you mommy!!" The little girl yells running over to her mother who was making her way towards them. The little girl jumps into her arms as she picks her up.
"Oh you're welcome sweetie. I know how much this family loves cheeseburgers so I hope I made them good" the mother reply's
"I bet they are very good!" She smiles before getting back down and running over to the table.

Tony then walks over to her.
"Thank you via" he smiles before giving her a kiss
"For you both, I'd do anything" I reply with a big smile on my face once we broke apart.

"Ew! Mommy daddy come on I'm hungry" Morgan yells
"Alright alright we're coming" I laugh as we all go sit down. We all take a couple of bites before I speak up.

"So how did I do? Are they good?" I ask them
"Fantastic actually, better than burger kind. And that's saying a lot coming from me" Tony tells me
"I love them mommy!" Morgan smiles with a mouth full of food
"Well that's great then, maybe I'll make them more often" I laugh
"Please do darling" Tony tells me

I look at Tony, then at our beautiful daughter Morgan. I couldn't help but smile, it's been five years since the battle, five years since I thought I was gone. But it only made me love life even more, when I realized what I was losing in that moment, I had wished for nothing more than to get it back and make the most of the rest. And that's what I was going to do.

"Tony I have news" I tell him trying not to smile
"What? What's wrong? Are you ok?" He asks me
"I'm fine. But Morgan-" I start to say
"What happened to Morgan? Is she hurt?" He asks quickly
"Hush let me finish" I laugh
"Ok sorry go on" he says
"Morgan's gonna need big sister clothes. She's growing so we should go grab her some" I tell him
"Oh that's it you scared me. Yeah I can run to the store with her or we can all go get her some, what did you call it? Big sister clothes? Yeah we can all go-" he says then stops

"Wait... via. Are you kidding? You're serious?" He asks me
"Yeah, Morgan's gonna be a big sister" I smile showing him the pregnancy test.
"Oh Via" he yells pulling me into a hug and swinging me around

"Oh honey I love you. I couldn't be happier" he says putting me down and bringing me into a kiss
"I love you too Tony" I smile before giving him another kiss

When I started showing up
as the woman I wanted to be,
the world began responding to me;
showing me all the different ways
I needed to keep moving,
and healing,
and growing,
and stretching beyond myself,
beyond anything I had ever
reached before.
When I started showing up
as the woman I wanted to be,
the world led me to a place where
I could finally say:

"I am her"

.