Many people have facades. Facades can be a means of preservation. A kind of armor that no one can penetrate. A shield that keeps others from knowing too much about you. With this armor on, you can pick and choose what or whom the outside world perceives of you. It can also be lethal. I dedicated the past year to acting. Acting like this strange, bizarre new world of living with chronic Lyme disease was standard. Acting like I’d expected this my whole life, acting like I wasn’t bothered in the slightest that overnight my life as I’d known it, stopped. But still I never went anywhere or did anything without a smile. When I was twelve, I was diagnosed with Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. For weeks I’d had spiking fevers, crippling bilateral joint pain and swelling, and a mysterious rash that covered me head to toe. At that point I’d never been more afraid of anything in my life. My body was attacking itself and I was left with no control, as simply a spectator. I … [Read more...]