Crohnsiversary

Before ten years ago, I wasn't sick.

I also didn't have my pup, Cosmo.

I didn't know about Smartphones, Itunes or Netflix.

I was unaware of Credit Scores.

I thought that I'd be married, with a million kids by the old age of 26. 

I planned to join the United States Navy, and travel the World.

There was no doubt in my mind that my best friends then, would be my best friends now.

I never stopped to think about how my parents were fairing in life.

I trusted boys.

I wore my heart on my sleeve and opened my mouth at the most inappropriate of times.

I never cared about my body enough to educate myself about my disease, and laughed it off when anyone asked about it.

I hated my legs.

The beach was a novelty thing for Floridians, so I didn't visit or appreciate it it as I should have.

Nothing was impossible.

Today,

I have found a tremendous companion in my 6 lb. pooch.

I write a blog that forces me to look within myself, and gives me strength to share.

[and I do it from my Blackberry.]

I am working diligently to pull together medical debt, and correct mistakes I had foolishly made as a younger spender.

I have baby fever like a sonnamabitch, but am happy to have the time to myself to prepare the right way for little ones... and I'll create a badass, loving home to bring them back from the Hospital to someday.

I'm happy to have never joined the Military, though am hoping to serve in a different way.  I'll be an Emergency Zoo Vet someday, preserving precious endangered animal species for our World.

The friends that I had when I was younger grew up and led very different lives.  And I am proud and honored to have had them in my life at all, despite the lack of continued communication.

I look to my Mother as someone I'd kill to be more like.  She's sacrificed so much for my brother and I to have had the opportunity to grow up to be the people that we are.  Hearts like that are hard to come by.

Boys?  I don't waste my time with them... because if you're this age and haven't seen what a man is, there's still much to learn about dudes and yourself.

I still find it valuable to wear your heart on your sleeve, unless you've got reason not to.  And opening my mouth to speak these days-- well, I'm usually chewing, so I get a little more time to think of what it is I want to say.

[One of the most valuable things a girl can learn how to do.]

I created an amazing group of individuals who have what I do in Kick Crohn's, and we're eager to learn more about it.  We still laugh at poop jokes, but take the initiative to recognize when something needs to be taken seriously.  I care for these people tremendously.

I still hate my legs, and refer to them as 'chicken fries', but leggings weren't so stylish in 2001.  Thank goodness for our continuous revamping of old trends.

I miss the beach.  California will mean much more to me when I arrive there in the next couple of years, and I'll never leave the sand before the sunset.

Anything is possible.

Because I love who I have become.

Crohn's and all.