WHEN WE STAND BEFORE A MIRROR EACH MORNING, THE REFLECTION CAST IS MORE COMPLICATED THAN THE COLLECTION OF FINITE CHEMICAL REACTIONS TO WHICH WE SURVEY AND CRITIQUE. IF WE LISTEN CLOSELY AS WE STARE BACK, TIME STANDS STILL AND OUR THOUGHTS PASS INWARD. IN THIS MOMENT A PRIVATE MONOLOGUE AND COMMUNION BEGINS AT THAT PLACE BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION AND SPIRITUAL AWARENESS. FOR THE IMAGE CAPTURED EACH MORNING AT THE MIRROR IS NOTHING LESS THAN WHAT PHYSICALLY REPRESENTS EVERY SINGLE DETAIL OF WHAT WE HAVE EVER THOUGHT AND FELT. OUR FACE MERELY ENCAPSULATES AND IDENTIFIES WHO WE ARE TO OURSELVES, GIVING FORM TO OUR EMOTIONS AND EXPERIENCES...WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THE SOUL THAT HAS LOST ITS CONSORT?
16'S YOUNG LIFE HAS COMPRISED MORE HARDSHIP THAN MANY FACE IN A LIFE TIME. MUCH OF IT FROM POOR CHOICE AND CIRCUMSTANCE, SOME MORE FROM THE UNFORTUNATE COMPLICATIONS ARISING OUT OF ONE MISMATCHED PAIR OF MICROSCOPIC NUCLEOTIDES IN A STRAND OF DNA. 16'S STRUGGLE IN LIFE WOULD FIND NO RESPITE ON HER SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY. ALONE IN A STEAM ROOM, 16 EXPERIENCED ANOTHER IN A HISTORY OF SEIZURES, THIS ONE INCAPACITATING HER TO THE GROUND. HER HEAD AND FACE FALLING INCHES FROM THE PIPES SUPPLYING THE STEAM; IT WOULD BE HOURS BEFORE SOMEONE NOTICED SHE WAS MISSING. BY THE TIME THAT HELP WAS CALLED, 16 HAD SUFFERED PARTIAL AND FULL THICKNESS BURNS TO MOST OF HER FACE AND SCALP. WHERE VERY LONG, THICK AND BEAUTIFUL HAIR ONCE THRIVED, NOW A DESOLATE SPACE LAY, WHERE SUCH GROWTH WILL NEVER BE KNOWN AGAIN.
EVERY TIME I LIFT OPEN 16'S EYELIDS TO APPLY MEDICATIONS, I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER WHAT HER 17TH BIRTHDAY WILL BRING AS SHE WAKES TO STAND IN FRONT OF THE MORNING MIRROR, AND HER EYES CAPTURE THE REFLECTION OF AN IMPOSTOR. WILL HER SOUL EVER FIND PEACE AND HARMONY WITH THIS NEW COUNTERFEIT...AND WHEN THOSE PRIVATE MONOLOGUES RETURN, WHAT CONVERSATIONS WILL SHE HAVE WITHIN HER SOUL...?
