New Trajectory

Sitting here tonight, I've thought about the path my life was on two years ago. Then, I was engaged, moving to Birmingham, and planning a future with a man I loved. I had applied to go to graduate school at the University of Alabama and bought a four door car with expectations of putting two car seats in the back. Isn't it funny how life comes along and screws up your plans?

Within a couple of months of making these plans, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The fiance bailed on me, and I had to go back to a life that I had already emotionally left. Not only did I have to go back to it, but I had to go back to it while I was sick.

One year ago this week, my mother passed away. I've spent the week reflecting on where my life was one year ago. My hair had barely grown back from chemo treatments. My world had just come crashing down, surrounding me with loss on every front. I needed to throw myself into something to regain control of my out of control life. And, as a result, I chose to go back to school.

Along with the return to school, there was the decision to have gastric bypass. It is no surprise that my decision to have the surgery came after my mom's death. She would have killed me for doing it! Oh, she would be so proud to see me lose weight, and I can only imagine the shopping sprees we would go on now that shopping is more fun for me. And while I'm excited about the new path my life is taking, it is strange to look back and see such a vastly different one only a year ago.

This week, I accepted an assistantship at the University of Tennessee, so I am taking a year long sabbatical. It is so strange to think that this time NEXT year, I will be working on campus, visiting interns at their schools, writing papers for class, and shopping in regular sizes. I feel like weight loss has given me the confidence to step out and do things I wouldn't have done before. I can only wonder what I will reflect on in another year. What will life throw my way next? And will those curve balls send me spiraling off in another direction or is this the path I'm supposed to be on? How many opportunities will come my way?