Even though life was sometimes challenging, my life wasn’t any
different from some of the other kids I went to school with.
Some of them lost their mommas, just like I did.

Some were forced to live with relatives they didn’t know,
just like my sisters and me. Some of them got sexually molested by
uncles, cousins, or overly friendly neighbors, just like me.

So, while I kept my secrets on that big dirty yellow bus back
and forth to middle school, some of the other kids on that same
big dirty yellow bus hid their secrets from the other kids on
that same big dirty yellow bus, just like me.