Summing up my Life

Summing Up My Life-Those of you who have been reading my blogs all along ,
please bear with me as a lot of this is sure to be repetitious. The morning
that I was going to start writing this blog, I was toying with another topic
when this title popped into my head. I guess we will see where it goes.

I was born on April 15, 1950 in Medicine Hat. In southern Alberta. I was the
youngest of 4 girls. So, obviously, by the time I was born, my parents
really, really wanted a boy. I still remember my mother saying to me that
she wasn't excited about my birth because she knew that I would be another
stinking girl. It was only a couple of years ago that it dawned on me that
she must have been joking. I carried the hurt of those words for a lot of
years simply because children take everything so literally.

The next 11 years of my life were spent on a farm/small ranch 50 miles south
of Medicine Hat. I treasure the memory of those years. We had no electricity, no
indoor plumbing and I rode horseback to a one-room school so it was a much
simpler way of life for a child. At least, in a developed country.

When I was 11, we moved to Medicine Hat and the transition from a country
bumpkin to a "normal" person began. We now had electricity, an indoor toilet
that flushed and I went to school with more than 2 or 3 kids in my grade.
Probably because of my "country bumpkin" background, I remained quiet and
shy all through school. I was, and still am, a bit of a bookworm.

After finishing high school in Medicine Hat, I attended the university of
Lethbridge, planning to becoming a teacher. I came out of my shell at
university and did some goofy things, like most university students do, but
I also took my studies seriously. I had to pay my own way through university
so I didn't dare fool around too much.

I graduated from university in the spring of 1972 but I didn't get a
fulltime teaching position until January of 1973. In the meantime, I did
substitute teaching in Medicine Hat. How ended up teaching in a place that
I had never heard of (Cold Lake) is rather interesting but I mentioned it in
a previous blog. I taught for ten years, all in Cold Lake. Those were pretty
routine years during which I got married and had a couple of kids.


However, on July 24, 1983, my routine world crashing down when, at the ripe
old age of 33, I had a brain stem stroke. I went from being a normal 33 year
old to a 33 year old who could no longer talk, walk or move. There was optimism that I would learn to walk and talk again. That is until I had what I call, for lack of a better word, the complication.

But then came the best day in my life. In September of 1985 I became a born-again Christian. I again had hope, and still do, of a full recovery. I just didn't know it would take so long. Through the long frustrating years of waiting, I can honestly say that I never lost that hope.

In March of this year, a new wrinkle was added to my life. I was diagnosed with cancer. After getting over the initial shock and emotional outburst, I have, for the most part, chosen to view it as merely one more thing that God will heal. The cancer has been good in that it has driven me even closer to God. Whenever I start to panic or feel discouraged, I run to the Bible and get encouragement-a from His words.

So here I am. I can't walk, I can't talk and have cancer. What comes next? I have no idea. All I can do is take one day at a time, trust God and be thankful for each day that I feel pretty good.