To New Beginnings....

This post has been a long time coming. So, I'm officially a quarter century years old as of yesterday, and the 4 year mark of the beginning of my battle is coming up very soon.

Things have been hectic, per usual, but I've also had a lot on my mind as well. I've met so many inspiring people throughout my battle with this horrible, horrible disease. I'm sick of seeing it take innocent lives way too early, and I continue to fight. 

Things have been almost too good lately, I've been so incredibly blessed with amazing people in my life, some new, some old, some re-kindled friendships. And for that, I cannot be more thankful. The support and help I receive from friends and family astonishes me every time I think about it. I would like to take a second to thank someone who has been such an inspiration in my life, Deb Overly. I met Deb when I was in high school, and you could never ask for a more supportive, loving, and encouraging individual. I consider myself so blessed to have Deb in my life. I wish everyone fighting this disease was fortunate enough to have a "Deb" in their life. 

And then there's the negative. The Whys.... The begging for answers. It goes through my mind every single day. I find myself trying to find reasons why I have this disease, and why so many other people end up suffering so much because of what this disease does to you not only physically, but psychologically. Since I was diagnosed, I've watched so many people lose their battle to this disease and I'm determined to make some sort of difference, in what exact way, I'm not yet positive. Right now my focus is on me, getting well for good, continuing my job search, and getting 100% healthy. 

Since my last post, almost 2 years ago, (GOSH, I cannot believe it's been so long) so much has happened. I lost my grandfather (mom's dad) last October, one of the greatest men I've ever met, and I miss him terribly. Everyone has their own struggles, and I am not one to judge another person's life or even compare it to what I have been through personally. That's not my job here. My goal is to reach out to other people and find a way to beat this thing.

Also, in the past two years, I've started quite an extensive list of "Things I want to Do Before I Die." I think I am going to start posting a few at a time as I continue to update, which, I promise, will be much more often. So along with school, job searching, and of course periodic checkups and medication changes, I've kept pretty busy. I also have started a list of "Things People Probably Don't Know About Me" which I will also try to keep updated. Here goes the first few:

Things People May Not Know About Me

When I love you, you have my whole heart. 

I love being up at the lake in the summer with my family, our "family week" when 20+ of us are staying in one house is something I look forward to every single year.

I make most decisions very quickly.

I love laughter and laughing.

I still find myself wondering why the heck life has to be so challenging at times. 

I HATE cancer and all of the people it has affected in my life. 

I have been a nail-biter as far back as I can remember, but have recently quit. 

Cancer has changed me and my life forever. 

And last but not least for today, I'm learning simplicity. Keeping things as simple as possible, and enjoying every minute of it. We only get one life, and I want to live it positively and happily. I thank a certain individual who knows who they are for helping me realize this. 

I think I will post the "things to do before I die" separately from my blog postings... I'm also looking into getting away from the blog and possibly going for an actual website. We will see what happens :) 

As always, to all of you out there who read and support this battle called cancer, thank you. And to those of you who are fighting the disease, don't give up. Keep on keeping on. This monster CAN be beat. And all of you who are supporting someone with cancer...thank you. Your positive attitude and all you do is beyond appreciated. 

So, there was a brief little update... I look forward to hearing  from some of my bloggers soon! I've missed my writing time:) I'll be working on another post this afternoon, I do have a lot to catch up on!!

<3 Stacy