3.7.11

Tonight's post comes from a guest-blogger. I am a gamut of emotions as I read her post...saddened, inspired, empowered. 


I have no doubt that she will be successful. Thank you so much for sharing your inspiration with us.


Recently, I lost one of my best friends (and roommates from college) to stage 4 breast cancer. She would have turned 29 just 4 days after she passed away. She battled metastatic breast cancer for over 4 years. She was a daughter, sister, aunt, teacher, colleague, friend, best friend and my hero. In the 4 years she battled cancer, she traveled abroad, got her Master's degree in early childhood education with a reading endorsement, bought her first home, and taught kindergarten up to 9 weeks before she passed away. Through all of this, she endured almost 10 surgeries, 2-3 rounds of chemo and a lot of other painful scans, shots, IVs, pokes and prods. If I can live my life just half as successful as she did, then I will have succeeded.

Each day I hope to channel some of Monica. My mom calls it, 'What would Monica do?' and in any situation she said, 'Just think about what Mon would do.' Monica approached every situation with grace. She was selfless. She'd rather know what everyone else was doing than talk about herself and her pain. She never pulled a 'Woe is me' moment when others would have milked it! She made me a better person and I know that each day in my future, when I think of her, I'll continue to find a way to be a better person. I want to help her memory live on, find a way to encourage others to follow their dreams, no matter how small or how large. 

I know I'll still cry multiple times a week. I know I'll still be sad looking at each picture I see. I know I'll still laugh when I hear the Black Eyed Peas 'My Humps' come on the radio because she loved that song. But I know that with Monica as my angel, I will be more successful each day I live.