Why I'm Thankful for 'My Person,' Who Also Has Chronic Illnesses

In “Grey’s Anatomy,” Meredith and Christina call each other “my person.” My person gives me context, affirmation and a sense of sisterhood. I was lucky enough to find her in college.

My person is my best friend. We don’t talk every day, and frankly weeks and weeks can go by where we don’t talk. Some weeks go by and all we’ve done is send one another memes.

But my person gets it the way others don’t. She has her own myriad of chronic illnesses. We know what it means when the other person says, “I’m having a day.”

My person is who I talk to when I need to yell at the world about this body of mine, when I’m just so frustrated and frankly mad at having a body that some days is so disinclined to cooperate. She reminds me it’s OK to feel the myriad of feelings that comes with having chronic illness.

My person knows what it’s like to not sleep because you’re in too much pain. To not eat because you’re too nauseous. Or when doing a task like laundry can exhaust you.

My person knows the frustration of dating with chronic illness. She knows that it is to talk with colleagues or family who don’t fully believe you.

Not everyone gets it, but my person does.

This post originally appeared on Salt and Sage.

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