01 May 2013

250 words

Today marks the first day of May and the beginning of the blog every day in may challenge over at story of my life blog. I'm nervous and excited to be participating. :)

The topic for today is: The story of my life in 250 words or less.

Let's do it.


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at 2 years old with my momma


In the face of being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition at 16 months of age, I chose joy...even then. My parents devoted their lives to making sure my story would be one with miles of laughter. I had an incredibly happy childhood that consisted of music and dancing, medications every 6 hours, vomiting and hospitalizations. Doctors predicted I would not live to see my 10th birthday, due to cystinosis. When I was 11, my momma gave me life for a second time by donating her kidney to me. Heath wise, my junior high and high school years were some of the most challenging of my days. I powered through and achieved a life long dream of graduating from college in 2008. Earning my Bachelor's Degree in Human Development with a Child Life Emphasis was a huge victory in my story. 

In 2006, my life changed forever when I lost my only sibling very unexpectedly when she was 15. I then met the love of my life, all in the span of 6 months. I learned from that roller coaster of a year that you cannot truly appreciate happiness if you have not felt unimaginable loss.

When I was 26 I went through an extremely high risk pregnancy with our miracle girl. There are only about nine other women in the world who have cystinosis and have lived through a pregnancy. Sookie Sierra, came into the world on February 1st, 2010 and ever since, has been showing me how much fun it is to break the rules.

"I think life chose me, after all." 
(Dar Williams; After All)


our miracle family
"our happy is too loud"

Whew! I did it with one word to spare.
I would love to hear your condensed life stories in the comments, or link to your blog post if you are joining in on this fun challenge!

Happy May and embrace today for the gift that it is.

xoxo.

25 comments:

  1. This is a beautiful post for the first of May! Your mother is a beautiful woman! And you have a beautiful family. :)

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  2. Thats a pretty incredible story!

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  3. Gorgeous family and your mom is beautiful! :)

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  4. You and your mother are so beautiful. What an amazing story.

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  5. Hey, I found your blog through the Blog Every Day in May linkup post!!

    Wow, what an amazing story! You are inspirational! :)

    http://www.chimerikal.com

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  6. What a great picture! You look so much like your mom, and Sookie looks so much like you did! Great post, as always!

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  7. A beautiful story and such an inspiration to live life to the fullest! You did awesome with the first day of the blog challenge.

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  8. that's incredible! sorry about losing your sister, though. i couldn't imagine.

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  9. Wow your story is so inspirational. Thank you for sharing :)

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  10. Such an amazing story, Tahnie! I love the picture of you and your beautiful mother! She sounds amazing (giving up her kidney and all). I'm sure any mother would do it but that doesn't make it any less brave!!!

    I've never heard of Cystinosis until now, so I look forward to reading through your posts and learning about it through your story. I'm also doing this monthly challenge but only on days that I don't already have a post scheduled (mainly weekends) and towards the end of the month. I may go back and do this one though!!! Thanks so much for sharing (and inspiring)!!! Take care :)!

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  11. What a lovely photo of you and your mother! And what an incredibly amazing, inspiring and humbling story - all at once!

    Every day you are a miracle - glad to now be following you :)

    Serena x
    Operation: Be His Mother

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  12. What a beautiful life story and that daughter of yours is precious! I love reading everyone's story to see what they choose to include - it says a lot about what defines you as a person! Your family seems to be amazing!

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  13. What a story! I saw this challenge and may need to get caught up!Your family is gorgeous and your mom looks like a model! Its amazing how much you can tell in 250 words. I found you thought the hop and am hosting as well today at http://www.frugalfitfamily.com - I would LOVE it if you would swing by and share! Following!

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  14. That daughter of yours is too precious for words. And what a fighter her mama is! I agree with you that you don't really appreciate what you have until you face a devastating loss. I'm trying to tell people that their passion should be living the best life you can, right now. Looks like you already know that!

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  15. Thank you for sharing your story and reminding us what a blessing life is.

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  16. thank you so much for sharing. you are just a miracle. such a beautiful family

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  17. What a beautiful life you've lived full of miracles, looking forward to following along with your challenge this month, adorable blog!!

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  18. ". . . you cannot truly appreciate happiness if you have not felt unimaginable loss."

    Yes! That's how we know we're human, that's how we know we've really lived -- we know the lows so we can cherish the highs, we experience death so we can love life. It's terrible, but beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing life! Miracles do happen.

    (Oh, and thanks for stopping by to read my story and for your kind words!)

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  19. Well done. Thank you for sharing your story. It's a great one. You have a lovely family.

    Happy Sharefest. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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  20. Wow! Your story is truly inspiring. And your words are beautiful. "... you cannot truly appreciate happiness if you have not felt unimaginable loss." I agree.

    Thank you for sharing your story.

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  21. This is such a beautiful post! I'm amazed at your strength of character. You've been through so much, but you still let yourself live & love completely. Also, the family picture at the end is PRECIOUS.

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