The Beginning

In an effort to make myself write on a constant basis; I decided to start this blog. Here's to hoping it won't end up like all of my other failed attempts and be left to wither and die in a dark corner of the internet! To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where to begin! I guess even with a blog, the best place to start is at the beginning. In this case, a little bit about me.

I felt like I had a fairly standard childhood. My parents were happy together, my older brother picked on me and I had an obsession with all things magical. This led me to anime (majou shoujou, anyone?), Greek myths and Harry Potter. However, my friends only shared and understood my love of Potter. These are the things that I remember when I look back. My mom calls it "a testament to the resilience of childhood" because many other things happened that shaped me and those dearest to me.

My much older brother gave me chicken pox when I was very young. It was nice because my parents never had to worry about me getting it from school but in retrospect, I think my parents wish I would have just gotten the chicken pox shot like everybody else. Herpes Zoster is a disease that is caused by the chicken pox virus that is already in your system. You cannot catch it. It just.. happens. It's kind of like chicken pox on steroids? Herpes Zoster Opthalmicus is when it presents itself in your eyes. It usually happens in much older people, but I was in the 1st grade. 50% of people have some kind of complication - most often blindness and severe infection. I was in the first grade when my former nurse mother noticed the bumps that had started to form. I was lucky in that the doctors caught it in time and had no memorable complications. I got to miss school for around a month and wear an eye patch like a pirate. I still have the cards my classmates made somewhere...

A few more notable events from that year: I began my long competitive swimming career, I broke my right wrist for the first time, and I met the two girls who would be my best friends to this day 14 years later

2001 was a hard year for many people for many reasons. Nobody was exempt from the stress and the sadness during that time. My third grade class was no exception. In me, the stress manifested itself in a physical way. I had begun to go bald. It's a disease called alopecia areata. You start off losing your hair in tiny chunks and usually it stays in small round spots. Not in my case. I lost a whole side of my hair. My parents didn't make a big deal out of it, they didn't want me to get sick kid syndrome, and instead just starting buying me hats and bandannas. I was the only kid in Brent Elementary allowed to wear hats in school! I had flare ups for many years. It wasn't until high school that I felt confident enough in my management of the disease to cut my hair short. It was a big step for me.

The following years were littered with more broken bones, ER visits and diagnoses (epilepsy and Hashimoto's). They were also filled with laughs, achievements and fond memories. Depression also played a big part in my preteen and teen years. I don't really like to think about those years! They also might be a subject of a later entry. I much prefer to think about swimming invitationals and the first time I finished the mile.

I hope the following posts aren't as me centric as this is. I'm hoping to write about the things that I see in the world around me and the like. This post was to help find a starting point with something that I know rather well - my past.  I find that in order to move on and grow from our past, we need to face it head on.

Till we meet again!
Rachel