Hope

If you've been paying attention to recent news (or if you received the Amber Alert on Monday), then you'll be familiar with the story of sixteen-year-old Hannah Anderson. If you don't know, Hannah Anderson was abducted by a family friend after her mother and her brother were killed. All week long, I've been following the story of Hannah Anderson hoping and praying that she would be rescued. I think this story struck really close to home because I could have been Hannah Anderson. I could have been kidnapped and my family could have been killed. For some reason, I almost felt like she took my place; like I lucked out and didn't get kidnapped. 

When I heard today that they finally found Hannah and that the son of a bitch (pardon my French) that kidnapped her was gone, I was so relieved and thankful that Hannah wasn't going to be forgotten, like so many other kidnapped victims that are never found. 

Last year, when the Sandy Hook shootings happened, the incident was brought up in class, and someone asked if "they knew why he did it". My teacher responded and said, "There is no possible explanation why someone would shoot another person. Someone who is willing to take the life of someone else has no justification". In many ways, I find those words to be so true; there is no justification for James Lee DiMaggio. Bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to good people. We'll never know why, but we have to stay strong and hold each other up when we fall. 

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My first post was about how life catches us off guard. I was really vague in my post, because I wasn't ready to talk about what was going on in my life. But, now that things have happened and I've accepted the life I was given, I think I'm ready.

A couple of weeks ago, the doctors found a small cyst in my aunt's uterus. They performed a biopsy on the cyst and determined that the cyst was cancerous. While we were all at Big Bear for vacation, our parents dropped the bomb on us, and the day was filled with the water works. At first, I was in shock, then denial, but then I looked around at my family and realized that we were going to get through the shit life just threw at us. We were strong. 

Then we found out that the cancer was still in the first stage. My hope had grown from a small mustard seed to a giant tree.

Two weeks later, my aunt has had a hysterectomy and the surgery went well. We went to go visit her today, because today was the day she came out of the hospital. At first we were walking around her and trying to be extra nice, but then I saw my aunt comforting her son (also my cousin), who was getting a tinsie bit emotional, and saw the strength and bravery that my aunt had. My hope has grown from a twenty foot tree to a tree kissing the tips of the clouds. My aunt has been strong for her family, so now I'm going to be strong for her. If she has go through chemotherapy and she loses her hair, hell, I will shave my head in support of that strong and beautiful woman. 

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"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew 17:20