Ten years ago I was celebrating my 49th birthday and on the verge of a life changing decade. After months of mammograms, tests, and biopsies, I heard the dreaded three words "you have cancer". You know that cliché movie scene where the character is sucked to the ceiling and watches the doctor from above and all she hears is a muted "blah, blah, blah"? That was my reality. I lived in what felt like a dream state for several years after hearing those words. One cannot be and will not ever be the same after a cancer diagnosis, in particular after your two favorite body parts are cut from your body. Fast forward to today, my 59th birthday and after many surgeries and procedures, I am living my "new normal". After my deconstruction and reconstruction, many …show more content…
I no longer enjoy frivolous shopping. Instead of acquiring or giving material goods, I'd rather experience all that the world has to give and share these with my loved ones. With the exception of my fake Frankenstein boobs and tooth implant (I also lost a front tooth a few months after my reconstruction), I've gained so much more by keeping it real. My most profound losses were the losses of fear, anxiety, procrastination and superstitious behaviors. These losses freed me to live my life purely in the moment. Live in the here and now and not worry about the past or what the future may or may not hold. I'm no longer locked into rituals like knocking on wood or signs of crosses for fear that I lose control of the universe.. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy and anxieties and fears occasionally creep back in, but I am only but a speck in this world and the only thing that I have control of is the way I choose to live my life. The past ten years have been full of gains. I've gained the knowledge that I am strong. I am loved (most of the time). I have enough and I am enough. I've gained my Daisy and a new
I had been wishing for a little brother or sister for a long time and one day my parents gave me the news that I was going to have a little sister. I had never been so excited and I could not wait to be a big sister and have someone to look over. Months had passed and it was getting so close, I could barely wait, and I am sure my mom was more ready than ever.
“My mamma ate bad. My grandma ate bad. Now, the food was good, so good, but you know it’s like soul food, so it’s not that good for you. My mamma had diabetes too. I’m sure grandma did too, but she didn’t go to the doctor ever. She couldn’t afford it. I can though. That’s how I found out I had diabetes. I got it from them, of that I am sure.”
This text is a transcript of a conversation between to female friends (Andrea and Barbara). The transcript is about Andrea’s rash and she confides in Barbara about the situation.
I speeded up, crossed the bridge, and headed north to Santa Clara. I was going to college. After so many years, I was still moving. Ten minutes later I finally saw it, the Santa Clara University.
There was a small group of friends Jim, Mark, Tom, Mary, and Jane. They were all going on a vacation to a cabin up in the Himalayan Mountains. Marks parents owned a cabin up there for many years and they decided to let the group stay for the weekend. All they had to do was promise to not do drugs and break stuff. This wouldn’t be a big deal since all of them were in their senior year of college and were honors students.
On Thursday December 8th 2016, my friends and I were in Leah Zara Myers room who invited Andrew to join us. At approximately 23:30, my friends left the room for a short time leaving me and Andrew by ourselves. He made an inappropriate comment to me saying, “You don't realize how attractive you are to men, I just look at you and find you very attractive. I realize I'm making you uncomfortable, but I thought I'd tell you.” I thought this comment was bizarre, but just decided not to reply. At about 00:30, I went to bed and met my two friends in my room. As I left Leah's room, Andrew touched my elbow and asked me if I wanted him to walk me to my room. I said no and left the room. When I arrived back in my room, I told my one friend the strange
Starting anything can be extremely difficult. Whether it be starting a new job, school, or even a family everyone has or will start something. In most cases, individuals learn best by experience. One cannot experience unless he or she starts. Because I love to start things that are generally chanllenging to others, I decided to start an online accessory company: The Purple Collar LLC (limited liability company). I have been told on several occasions that I am an old soul. I decided to take these words and utilize them to do something that I was interested in. I have wanted to be a CEO since I was in the 4th grade. I asked myself, “Why wait until you are old to be mature and do appropriate grown up things?”
“Sweetheart, can you pass me the butter off the kitchen counter?” I say to my daughter, who was supposed to be helping me cook. Sorry to say, she decided against it at the last minute.
Warm, salty sweat was dripping down my drained face. Snatching the towel which was placed delicately around my neck, I used the towel by daintily wiping the sweat gathered up on my forehead. Shutting my eyes unanticipatedly, I lifted the heavy dumbbells once more before setting it back on the large metal rack. Locating my throbbing body on the poorly painted wooden bench, I picked up the cold water bottle and initiated to drink all the remaining water to fill my thirst. Exhaling vociferously, I planted my chin on my moist palm. My bulky, muscular arms started to pulsate causing my whole entire body to stiffen up. I sat on the bench for several moments, too overwhelmed to move.
She is just a person, one of us but different. Wanting to be the best and to be recognized for it. Giving it her all anywhere and anytime, always putting her best foot forward.
…I stepped out of bed onto the cold floor. Then I began to head down stairs. I put two pieces of bread in the toaster and had my morning coffee. Then once I finished the warm coffee, which was quite nice on a cold November morning, I unlocked the front door and headed out to check the mail box but before I could take another step, I stopped and noticed something on my front porch, I bent down to get a better look and realized it was an iPhone…but what was a ‘very new looking’ iPhone doing on my porch at 11am? I picked it up and pressed the home button to turn it on. It was a brand new iPhone that had just come out a few months ago and was suppose to have the best camera a phone could have. Being a photographer, I quickly opened up the camera.
Heart pounding, hands sweating, almost on the verge of tears, my nine-year-old self-had forgotten her math homework again. “Where is your homework?” Ms. McDougall croaked comparable to a decrepit toad. Consequentially, my fellow pupils judging eyes pierced through my soul. I shrugged my shoulders, slammed my desk shut and huffed my way to sit outside. McDougall treated me as synonymous to a delinquent child. She spewed, “ You’re stupid and lazy, and the pictures you draw would not earn me you an A.” As if a nine-year-old knew the meaning of bribery? Granted, I was not this child she created in her mind. I just did not have the sort of intelligence in which she upheld on her version of the ' Iron Throne.’
Looking back on my childhood, it is clear to me that I was never a very feminine girl. I remember asking to pee outside; trying to be like my older brother when I was only just in diapers. I did wear dresses, and I had some skirts that I enjoyed wearing, but only to church. However, I can distinctly remember getting grass stains on my Easter dress from the time I left the front door to when I reached the car sitting in the driveway. I never really felt the pressure to look nice; this has been permanently documented in any pictures from before middle school in which I was wearing an outfit of my choice. My look until about seventh grade was a slicked back ponytail, a t-shirt, and basketball shorts that were handed down to me from my older brother.
A time that I tried something new, was when I jumped off of a cliff. I was so scared to do it, that I almost didn’t. My uncle had taken us swimming, and wanted me to try jumping. Might I remind you that I was only about six when this happened. I didn’t want to do it because I was scared I was going to drowned, but my uncle promised to hold my hand. If I never would have jumped, then I would blame myself for thinking about all the bad things that could happen.
My sister Julia, at the age of twelve, went to school on a Tuesday. Though on this particular day, she chose to wear her brand new short overalls she had gotten as a birthday present. The shorts, which she wore with pride, were denim and accented with lace. When she wore them, her face exuded confidence.