True friends

Recently I was asked to write and article for my school newspaper about life with arthritis. I politely declined, not because I don't want people to know that I have arthritis, but because I know my "friends" would have smart comments.  This is why I rarely talk to people about my disease, because they don't understand. To them I'm making up my pain.  Just because they can't see it, they think I must be lying about it. I only really talk to two of my friends about my arthritis because I know they'll understand. My one friend, Brooke, also has a chronic illness so it's easy to be able to relate to her. She knows I'm not lying about my pain to get attention and she understands the frustrations of people who don't believe you. I don't know what I would do without her to talk to. I think it's really important to have at least one person that you can really open up to, and for me she's that person.