Zebra Seeking Spoons

May is Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Awareness Month and this past weekend was the monthly support group that I run. This month in particular has been a rough one for me, with one of the longest flare ups of symptoms that I’ve had in quite some time. Sitting in a room of other zebras who understand what I’m going through was especially prescious to me this month, because being in such a long crash can be particularly isolating. I don’t know what I would do without my tribe.

Living with a body made of loose threads,
with joints that wander
and pain that arrives uninvited,
can feel like carrying a storm
that only you can see.

There are days you learn to smile through braces,
through fatigue that settles into your bones,
through spoons counted carefully,
through the ache of explaining yourself
one more time.

Then you find your people.

A room full of zebras
who do not ask you to prove your pain,
who understand the language
of dislocations, flares, and exhaustion,
who nod before you finish the sentence.

They become strength
not because they take away the struggle,
but because they help carry it.

They remind you
that resting is not failing.
That slowing down is not quitting.
That surviving hard days
is its own kind of courage.

Together you become a herd—
zebra strong.

And suddenly the storm feels smaller,
because even in the darkest weather,
you are no longer standing in it alone.