Author: Lauren

The other day, after craving a BBQ chicken super melt for about a week, I finally broke down and went to Friendly’s to pick up my favorite meal with my favorite french fries, and perhaps even get a happy ending sundae! I got to the counter to pick up my order and was greeted (or not) by the most angry, rude, UNfriendly teenager. I kindly asked if this was the meal that came with the happy ending sundae and she said “No…. it doesn’t come with a sundae.” To which I thought “wellp, if it isn’t free, I won’t bother.” She was too unfriendly for me to bother asking for the upgraded meal which I knew came with a happy ending sundae… so I let it slide and handed over my ten dollar bill. I watched as she moped around making sundaes, talked in monotone to a man on the phone who’s order she messed up, and uncaringly wandered around clearly hating her job. She slammed down hot fudge bottles, stomped toward the counter, and hardly made eye contact with the customers whom she was ringing up. I exchanged hesitant glances with other customers as she greeted them quite rudely and dismissively and felt an overwhelming sense of negativity overcoming me. I decided, in that moment, that I did, in fact, want that happy ending sundae, so I asked...

I will admit, this last round of IVs/hospital was tough. At the beginning, while I was coping with feeling completely useless and a little bit blindsided, I’ll admit I was not being positive. I felt helpless, and I began to actually believe that I wasn’t going to get better. Then, I decided that I had to start seeing the good in each day if I was ever going to get through it. SO, each night, I wrote down one or two things that either made me smile, that I was grateful for, or that I would typically take for granted were it not for the fact that I was sick. This continued for the week after my PICC was removed because I started seeing all of the blessings around me that I tended to overlook before I spent a month trying to get better. Coincidentally, this list ended up being 65 blessings long… so here are 65 blessings for 65 roses. (If you haven’t heard the 65 roses story read it here.) 1) When your friend texts you to see how you’re doing 2) When your cousin stops by on a Friday night just to hang out and proceeds to makes you laugh uncontrollably 3) When your friend brings you lunch from your favorite local pizza place 4) Being home, getting a Christmas tree, sitting by the fire like...