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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Take care of your heart!!!
I often look at things that I have done in the past. More specifically, I look at things I have lived through. In my mere 26 years of life, I have lived through 2 heart surgeries, getting rabies shots, slowly becoming allergic to everything I used to not be allergic to, piercing my finger with a scalpel, “falling off a roof”, too many broken hearts to count, and being one of the “weird” people that everyone knew by name but couldn’t be accepted into any particular crowd.
I have learned to accept some things, like the fact that I will never be “normal”, finding ways to get around my allergies, and remembering that injured mend (even metaphoric broken hearts heal. When my boss told my supervisor that I “march to the beat of my own drum”, I actually felt a little pride in the fact that I’m not like everybody else, and even though I will be remembered as being odd, I will at least be remembered. The people that don’t remember me from high school aren’t worth my time, and I really don’t need to fret over it, because the people I really enjoyed being in high school with, won’t let me forget that I am cared about. (That’s the important part of having friends anyways, right?)
As for the heart surgeries, my first one I was only 4 months old. They told my parents not to expect me to live past the age of 2. When I was 2, they told my mom that I would be on heart medication for the rest of my life. When I was 5, they told my mom I was just fine, and I didn’t need to be seen in their office again. When I was 16, they told me that the chest pains I had been getting since I was 12, was actually my heart beating up over 300 beats per minute, and I would need surgery. After surgery, they recommended 2 check ups a year. When I got pregnant, they put me in a high rick pregnancy clinic, and I had a healthy baby girl with zero negative impact on my heart. Unfortunately, I am back on heart medication, that I will have to take for the rest of my life, but I feel like a little pill a day is a small price to pay for a healthy heart.
I have already ordered enough red dress pins for every guest at my wedding. I try very hard to educate the people around me and all the women in my life the importance of heart health. Someone told me on “Go Red for Women” day, that if I asked them to wear pink for breast cancer they would, but that heart health just wasn’t as important. I vented on facebook about the comment, and got back the best response ever over it: “Unless they’re into necrophilia, once the heart goes, so do the breasts.” I feel like, in this day and age, with all our positive research on breast cancer, most women can actually survive being diagnosed with it. Heart disease is still the number one killer of women. I feel like at this point, it is a little more important to emphasize it! Let the women in your lives know you care, remind them to stay aware of their heart health! After all, you’ve only got the one heart.
I have learned to accept some things, like the fact that I will never be “normal”, finding ways to get around my allergies, and remembering that injured mend (even metaphoric broken hearts heal. When my boss told my supervisor that I “march to the beat of my own drum”, I actually felt a little pride in the fact that I’m not like everybody else, and even though I will be remembered as being odd, I will at least be remembered. The people that don’t remember me from high school aren’t worth my time, and I really don’t need to fret over it, because the people I really enjoyed being in high school with, won’t let me forget that I am cared about. (That’s the important part of having friends anyways, right?)
As for the heart surgeries, my first one I was only 4 months old. They told my parents not to expect me to live past the age of 2. When I was 2, they told my mom that I would be on heart medication for the rest of my life. When I was 5, they told my mom I was just fine, and I didn’t need to be seen in their office again. When I was 16, they told me that the chest pains I had been getting since I was 12, was actually my heart beating up over 300 beats per minute, and I would need surgery. After surgery, they recommended 2 check ups a year. When I got pregnant, they put me in a high rick pregnancy clinic, and I had a healthy baby girl with zero negative impact on my heart. Unfortunately, I am back on heart medication, that I will have to take for the rest of my life, but I feel like a little pill a day is a small price to pay for a healthy heart.
I have already ordered enough red dress pins for every guest at my wedding. I try very hard to educate the people around me and all the women in my life the importance of heart health. Someone told me on “Go Red for Women” day, that if I asked them to wear pink for breast cancer they would, but that heart health just wasn’t as important. I vented on facebook about the comment, and got back the best response ever over it: “Unless they’re into necrophilia, once the heart goes, so do the breasts.” I feel like, in this day and age, with all our positive research on breast cancer, most women can actually survive being diagnosed with it. Heart disease is still the number one killer of women. I feel like at this point, it is a little more important to emphasize it! Let the women in your lives know you care, remind them to stay aware of their heart health! After all, you’ve only got the one heart.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Sincerity.
Dictionary.com defines sincerity as “freedom from deceit, hypocrisy, or duplicity”. So, when I say that I am sincerely happy for someone else, I mean it. Sometimes people say things like “aren’t you jealous”, or “they’re your ex, why are you happy for them”? I always fall back on my original statement. I am genuinely and sincerely happy for them.
I recently facebook friended one of my ex’s. He and I were together for about 5 years many, many, MANY years ago. We were kids, things didn’t work out. We ended up being friends after though, he was one of the first people I told when I found out I was pregnant, and I was one of the last people he saw before he went too Iraq for the first time.
These days, I am a happily engaged lady, and he has finally found someone that put a little sparkle back in his eye. When I say I am happy for him, I mean it. With all my heart, with the possible capacity that my heart can handle. I am happy to see him in a relationship where he can flourish and grow. I am excited about their future together for them.
I’ve had friends that have gone on to more schooling and graduated. One of my closest friends when I was pregnant was a girl named Meg. She and I were really close. Things happened, and for some reason it ends up being a little difficult to maintain friendships with non-parent friends when you become a parent. She is passing through school with grace and she is pursuing her goals to be a nurse. She’s doing amazing at it. She puts up happy statuses on facebook, and posts happy pictures. Even though we aren’t as close as we once were, I am still very happy that her life is going so well.
Some people might not know this, but, I almost gave Jillie up for adoption. I made a plan and everything. Things didn’t work out that way (obviously), and Jillie is still mine <3. However, I always thought of the couple and hoped fervently that they would get to experience the utter joy of being a parent. When the wife contacted me to tell me about her beautiful little boy, and to tell me that she and her husband were happy to see that everything worked out for me, I cried. Completely happy tears, real tears. I was so happy to hear that things clicked into place for them. I know that sometimes, in this world of “dog eat dog”, it is a little unorthodox to be happy for someone else’s happiness. However, I feel like it’s a necessary part of life. It keeps you human, and lets to be connected to the people around you. I enjoy being genuinely happy for the people I love. It makes me happy to know that they are enjoying their lives. Maybe someday we can all be a little like that…
I recently facebook friended one of my ex’s. He and I were together for about 5 years many, many, MANY years ago. We were kids, things didn’t work out. We ended up being friends after though, he was one of the first people I told when I found out I was pregnant, and I was one of the last people he saw before he went too Iraq for the first time.
These days, I am a happily engaged lady, and he has finally found someone that put a little sparkle back in his eye. When I say I am happy for him, I mean it. With all my heart, with the possible capacity that my heart can handle. I am happy to see him in a relationship where he can flourish and grow. I am excited about their future together for them.
I’ve had friends that have gone on to more schooling and graduated. One of my closest friends when I was pregnant was a girl named Meg. She and I were really close. Things happened, and for some reason it ends up being a little difficult to maintain friendships with non-parent friends when you become a parent. She is passing through school with grace and she is pursuing her goals to be a nurse. She’s doing amazing at it. She puts up happy statuses on facebook, and posts happy pictures. Even though we aren’t as close as we once were, I am still very happy that her life is going so well.
Some people might not know this, but, I almost gave Jillie up for adoption. I made a plan and everything. Things didn’t work out that way (obviously), and Jillie is still mine <3. However, I always thought of the couple and hoped fervently that they would get to experience the utter joy of being a parent. When the wife contacted me to tell me about her beautiful little boy, and to tell me that she and her husband were happy to see that everything worked out for me, I cried. Completely happy tears, real tears. I was so happy to hear that things clicked into place for them. I know that sometimes, in this world of “dog eat dog”, it is a little unorthodox to be happy for someone else’s happiness. However, I feel like it’s a necessary part of life. It keeps you human, and lets to be connected to the people around you. I enjoy being genuinely happy for the people I love. It makes me happy to know that they are enjoying their lives. Maybe someday we can all be a little like that…
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