its coming, this sunday i will see a birthday that i never thought i would see. don’t know why really, i was always convinced that once i turned 18, the world would end…well it didn’t, then i was convinced that as soon as i graduated college, i would cease to exists…again no go! and now i am turning 30. and i am really alright with that. just the past five years have been huge for me so i would like to think back.
five years ago in early october my parents and i moved from kalamazoo michigan to north stonington connecticut. a bit of a culture shock, but i was in such a bad state i cannot remember the actual move. i wasn’t drugged or anything, but i was certainly out of it and to this day cannot remember a thing. that christmas i got sick…and had to find a new doctor, he asked me if i had ever tried to loose weight. now this i remember like it was yesterday because i broke down in tears and said “do you think i like looking like this? of course!! i have tried everything!” and i started to list everything from weight watchers to atkins to prescribed medications to some not so prescribed things.
and that’s when the he simply suggested surgery. well that was a no brain-er for me sign me up! my dad was terrified-as i am sure most dads would be and my mom was supportive. but before that could happen i got sick again…in the hospital with another pulmonary embolism…which pushed the surgery back six months. to this day no one can tell me why i got those repeatedly.
well in between getting sick and scheduling the surgery, i got two jobs, one with special people and one at mystic seaport. the special people were great, but the job at mystic really made me realize just how much of a passion i have for history and i finally made up my mind of what i wanted to do for the rest of my life…be surrounded by old things! so now i was going for surgery and wanted my masters.
fast forward to july and i had my surgery, i went from this:
to this:
in a little over a year, with major complications and all. but my whole outlook on life has completely changed from then on the things i began to realize seemed to me to be things that i could really accomplish. and now, i am in grad school, have a little family of my own and on my way to getting married. in just five years.
i am really excited to see what will happen in the next five years…i do know now that world is not going to end!!
p.s i have an aunt who is a nun and i always told her if i wasn’t married by the age of 35 (never thought i would get there…) that i would become a nun. sorry aunt rita! i hope that doesn’t count as a lie???
Jens World 