Today is important to me for a number of reasons.
First, it's Election Day, and I am excited to cast my first presidential ballot. I've always been a bit of a political idealist. I love reading how politics are supposed to work based on the Constitution, electoral college, checks and balances, and the view that the best leaders would naturally rise to the top, like cream on milk. The political corruption which is reality saddens my heart, but I am still thankful for the moorings provided by the Constitution and the conscience of the American people.
Second, it's another day in NaNoWriMo - another day to write a story I feel has been pent up inside of me for a long time. Already my novel is at 12,000+ words on day six of this challenge, averaging a little more than 2,000 words a day. Writing this novel, is, in a sense, part of healing for me. This is not a novel that I ever think will be made available for publication (get real; I'm writing it in a month. It's going to suck!), but the experience of writing and the themes have nonetheless become very therapeutic.
The third reason today is important to me is a very sad reason, as today marks the funeral of an ME sufferer from the UK, Emily Rose Collingridge. I hope you will take a few minutes to Google her name or read an article about her case. Emily suffered from ME from the young age of 6 all the way to her death at 30 years of age. Her symptoms were many and very extreme, including periods of blindness, paralysis, and double incontinence. But in spite of being worse than bedridden, this extraordinary young lady became an advocate for ME sufferers and even wrote a book as a guide to living with the illness that claimed her life. Hats off to Emily. Her story has motivated me to raise what awareness I can in order to help severe ME patients know that they are not alone.
What makes today special to you?
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
3 comments:
Disclaimer: If you have a health resource you can't resist sharing, I would love to hear about it if you feel it will be truly helpful. I am already doing my best to fight this illness from a nutritional, structural, as well as medical stand-point. Please avoid comments with "miracle cure" stories about your Aunt Milly's granddaughter who drank coltsfoot tea for a week and has been fine ever since. I'm very thankful it worked for her in her case, but there are so many environmental, emotional, and other factors that make CFS/ME complicated and different from just an average illness. That being said, please leave thoughtful and uplifting comments below.
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Haha, this is super random compared with yours, but today was special because we role played hostage and other crime situations... Complete with firecrackers in the hall and a big bearded guy coming in with a toy gun. So yeah. :D Very... um, special. It was really good though... it helps to know some of these things. Still would be really tough to actually know what to do... Anyway, that was just the first thing that came to mind. :D
ReplyDeleteWow! That sounds pretty awesome! It does help to know those things! We did all kinds of role playing in my Mission experience, too - did an evacuation role play, as well as a fair amount of practice at the range - for those sorts of self-defense situations. Love you!
DeleteI think I know what you mean about the writing process being theraputic. For a long time leading up to NaNoWriMo, I've just kind of seemed to float through life. Aside from really concentrating on working with Joey Joey, I hardly felt like my days and life were productive. Another day of school every day; and even though I'm a senior in HS looking forward to an exciting year, I was just kind of bleh about the whole thing. But since doing NaNo, I feel like I'm accomplishing something with my time spent honed in on writing this novel, and thinking about all the things I'm learning by doing it. Like you, I know this story I'm writing has been a long-time coming. It's high-time I just get it down on paper, even if nobody else ever reads it. :P As I realize once again that creative writing is one of my strong-points, I'm excited about what the future could hold! Just thought I'd share that. :)
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