I have often wondered what it must be like for a child to be born with a medical problem. Every year many children are indeed born with one and they are forever labeled as such. For me, my medical problem (or "challenge" as I like to call it) started when I was 34 years old. Lupus was new and discouraging back then, but now it is a part of me and I embrace it. I no longer worry about what it could and can do, instead I focus my thoughts on living a happy and productive life. After all, I'm just me. Just ME! The same person as I have always been. Just slightly altered in a way. I am more aware than I have ever been of my life and the choices that I make. I am grateful in so many ways. I am grateful for sunny days when the cardinal bird family who lives in the trees in my backyard come out to play. I am grateful to walk Lulu across the street to say hello to our resident horse, Molly, while the scent of our flowering magnolia trees float through the air. I am grateful knowing that my parents, my family and my friends have loving and safe homes to sleep in at night. I am grateful for the old photographs of those that I have lost along the way. I am grateful for the use of my hands to create special things from scratch. And I am especially grateful for the life I have been given. My life with God. My life with Lulu. My oh-so-dearest parents, family and friends. Having a job I enjoy. Having a roof over my head. Yes, times aren't always easy. My ability to have children was taken away from me in the blink of an eye. And I deal with chronic pain from the faulty hands of a surgeon. But my life is grand. Really grand! I have been given the special gift of delivering powerful news to children about their most magical wishes when they are dealing with their own medical problems. What an unbelievable opportunity! But then again, I'm just me doing what I love with the people I love the most. Doing things that I have been called to do. Creating moments of sheer happiness every single day of my life. Being positive. Not sweating the small stuff. Life is indeed good. I am thrilled, humbled and honored to have today, tomorrow and the future to experience life at its greatest. Simply by just being ME!
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