They Are Better Off Now

I was reading another really good blog by "Sick Girl Speaks" (http://sickgirlspeaks.blogspot.com/2010/05/battle-metaphor-repost-with-new-ending.html) where she discussed the "Battle Metaphor". I had never really thought about it all that much. My mom got me a necklace that says "Survivor" and has a heart with wings, but usually I don't feel like I have really survived anything. But it made me think, one day I will lose the battle and I will not longer be considered a survivor, so does that make me less of a person, or not as great of a person?
You know after someone passed to young, from an awful illness, like cancer, someone will say: "They are in a better place now," which is true, heaven is a much better place. But, they might also say:"they are better off now". I do not believe this at all. Through all the pain I have had, 7 years of nausea, migraines, life changes, etc. everything has been worth those life experiences I have had in those 7 years. Helping people, making people happy, enjoying life with others, it is worth all the pain. Through this road trip I have been in about a level 8 pain, I feel like I am about to cry, and the Oxy doesn't work. But it has all been worth it, I am not only seeing America, I am making memories with my sisters and we are learning new things, and becoming adults together. Alicia Parlette summed it up best when she told her brother: 'I'd rather choose life with this pain than death without it. Choose life, Matthew. Always choose life.' After she told her brother her pain was 100 on a scale of 1-10.

Here is her blog-and where you can buy her amazing book. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/special/pages/2005/alicia/partone.DTL

I just started the book:"Critical Care" by Theresa Brown, it is so good. I wish there was more nurses like her, or how she describes her self to be.

Music

So today I was on a long road trip and thought of a REALLY good blog post while I was driving, but now that it is 12:28 am, I forget what it was about. So instead I am going to write about other things I contemplated while driving.
We listen to a LOT of country music and I always knew some of the songs had some pretty strong meanings, the biggest one of all being Brad Paisley's with Dolly "When I get to Heaven" (if you haven't heard it yet, look it up, its a must. Do it now!) Anyways, I always knew that they had some pretty strong stuff in them, but now after transplant the words hit me so much harder. Listening to a lot of the songs was just kind of wow, because they were hitting so close to my heart.
In Alicia Parlett's book: "Alicia's Story" she talked about how after finding out about her illness, randomly in the day she would think about things like planning her funeral, what music would be played, etc. She thought this was almost funny how these things just popped into her head, totally normal, but should a 20 something girl really be thinking about her funeral? I love this book so much for so many reasons. One of them being that Alicia helped me put my feelings into words through her writing. All the time I think about things like music being played at my funeral. I never knew if this was weird or normal until I read her book. This book is also a must read, it is sooo good. Order it through the San Francisco Chronicle. You can also read some of it online if you google her name. Here it is: http://www.sfgate.com/alicia/