Wednesday, June 1, 2011

An Anniversary

It's been almost one year since I started this blog. At a time in my life when I couldn't see the end to tunnel. When everything was closing in on me and remission or even improvement were far off concepts that neither my mind nor my body could grapple with much less achieve. It too a lot of prayer and long, hopeless nights to allow me to make a few decisions that eventually lead me to the peaceful and much deserved "happy" place that I am in now. And I am thankful to God and my family for giving me the strength to make the tough decisions I once made so that today my life could be 100x better. But those decisions did not come without a lot of sacrifice and sadness on my part. And tonight, as I said goodbye to my former students during their promotion ceremony I was reminded of how much I gave up, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. It was a bitter sweet moment to see all my old students again, but I was so happy to realize that none of them resented me or my decision to leave. Instead they looked for me with open arms and thanked me for everything I had taught them. I realized that while I may have left them physically, the knowledge and the experiences I left them with will last a lifetime. And that to me, is the greatest gift. I can close the KIPP chapter of my life and move on to newer, different journeys knowing that for a brief moment in time I touched the lives those young people and for that, I am a better person, with or without scleroderma.

It's been one incredible year and I have only good things to look forward to. I may not ever be "cured" but I know that recovery and remission IS possible and I truly believe that I'm well on my way. To all of you who have spent the last year (few years) following me and my progress, I thank you. For your patience, kind words, prayers and love, thank you. And as I always say: I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I am where I was intended to be. Happy Anniversary Scleroderma (Diagnosed May 12, 2007) you've changed my life for the better.

Be still, be well.