Maggie takes the train

I don't know why I'm so excited about this but today I unexpectedly took a train back to my apartment. Usually I take the metro home after work but I had to meet a friend closer to where she worked and because I got lost trying to get back home, I finally found a train station and decided to take the train back into town. I realize taking the commuter rail is something people do every day but I still think it's quite fun to do things unexpectedly like that. My family and I only used to take trains when we were on holiday or going to some special event or something like that. Traveling on a train seems special to me even if it's just going home. (After all, home is a nice place to go to.) Plus this train helped me get home safe and sound and warm which was lovely as it was cold out.  So for once getting lost was quite fun and slightly nostalgic. Hooray for unexpected pleasures!

Doctors' Day

Today is Doctors' Day which was started in 1933 to remember the first administration of anesthesia by Dr. Crawford W. Long in Jefferson, Georgia, in 1842. Since it's Doctors' Day, I'd like to use this post to thank the doctors I've had in my life. I've seen quite a few of them but I don't see that as a bad thing. I'm alive today because of the efforts of many doctors and I couldn't be more grateful. I'm also grateful to my parents for ensuring that I always got the best possible care. I know that hospitals and doctors' offices aren't really thought of as pleasant places to visit but all the doctors I had were really friendly and I liked that they always treated me as  a person as well as a patient. I remember early on when I was very young one doctor said to my mum something to the effect of that I was really cute and my parents shouldn't let me date until I was 32 so I'd stay out of trouble! Why he thought I'd be more responsible when I turn 32 I still don't know but somehow I think it's funny now.

Doctors have also pulled strings to help me have fun. Once I had to have an unexpected surgery and it just so happened I was due to have a party to celebrate graduating from high school in the afternoon of the next day. When my doctor found out about it, she scheduled the surgery immediately. I came out of hospital the next day and the party was a lovely coming home present. So I celebrate Doctors' day and all the doctors who have helped me throughout my life because my life is better and happier as a result of their efforts.

Make way for turkeys!

Boston is famous for the story Make Way for Ducklings (a group of ducks settle in Boston's Public Garden). Well, today I saw two turkeys that people in Brookline, MA made way for. They really did strut down the road like they owned the place, with their heads held high and everything. Cars didn't seem to bother them, when they were confronted with one, they just kept right on walking. I'm not sure where they actually came from but clearly they're going places and they weren't about to let anything stop them!

Random facts

Since I'm all for increasing people's knowledge about things I thought I'd share some random facts that I think are fun. 

• It's physically impossible to swallow your tongue. (Therefore, I wouldn't recommend trying to do it. )
•  Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.(Which is probably a good thing-just think of the noise it would make if they could jump.)
•  Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating (Snails really know how to nap!)
• Rubbing banana peel on mosquito bites will help stop the itching. (I'll have to start stocking up on bananas in the summer.)
• In 1982, Larry Walters tied 24 weather balloons to his lawn chair in Los Angeles and climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet.( Now I really want to replicate the experiment!)
• In the year 1900, for a women to be a telephone operator she had to be between the ages of 17 and 26 and not be married. (Now I know how pickup lines got started-single men couldn't wait for the operator to "pick up" the phone!)
• The Hundred Years War lasted for 116 years. (After100 years had passed people got tired of counting.)
• In 1778, fashionable women of Paris never went out in blustery weather without a lightning rod attached to their hats.(They must have had electric personalities!) 
• The parachute was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515 (I wonder what he decided to jump off of to test  how effective parachutes are.)
• Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark. (So it's not surprising that he invented the light bulb!)  

Sources: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bingbin/
http://old.epilepsyfoundation.org/local/kentuckiana/myths.cfm#.UzY9KqLNnIY
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1006385-1-000-random-facts?page=2
http://funnyshit.com.au/facts.htm
http://www.funology.com/facts-about-people/

Everyone's a Star to Me!

"Every man and every woman is a star" -Aleister Crowley (British Oculist and Mystic-1875-1947)

I really like this quote mainly because I believe in its truthfulness and I like the fact that the man who wrote it really believed in magic. Maybe we aren't all in movies or big shows but I believe everyone is good at something and has a lot of gifts to offer the rest of the world. When I was younger there used to be  an amateur theater company close to my house that would put on plays for kids and I used to like getting the actors' autographs because one day when they made it "big" then I could say I knew them when they got their start which felt cool at the time. I like the idea that everyone has the opportunity to make their mark on the world and to be remembered for it. It may sound a bit strange but in a way I wish I could get all sorts of people's autographs because I see it as yet another way I can show people how awesome I think they are in general.  I also believe there's magic in all of us and that magic should be recognized as much as possible. I hope everyone lets some of the light that I know is in them shine out through their talents because I believe everyone has star power that needs to be seen, felt, and most of all enjoyed!

 

I'm proudly wearing purple to show that epilepsy can be empowering!

I learned about this really cool organization called the Anita Kaufman Foundation who started a "Purple Day" initiative to get people all over the world to wear purple on March 26th to raise awareness about epilepsy and get people talking about it.Very briefly: people are said to have epilepsy only after they have had more than 1 seizure. There are many different types of seizures that can effect people in many different ways, some fall down, others may stop talking abruptly and start smacking their lips or pulling at their clothing. No seizure is exactly alike. If you'd like to learn more about epilepsy please click here.)

So as you can see below I wore purple today. What I like about the shirt I'm wearing is that it says "Empowering Young Women With Disabilities." I think the shirt applies because in some respects I think being diagnosed with epilepsy has been a strangely empowering experience. I was diagnosed when I was 19 and if you'd asked me at the time whether I felt empowered the answer would have been an emphatic no! However, since then I've come to feel empowered by it. Having epilepsy has helped me to see the strength that people have, (myself include)d in refusing to let epilepsy stop them from doing things they wanted to do. I've met some amazing people who have epilepsy and I feel empowered by their example as they make me want to grow and be a better person and to find more ways to help others.

I know that having a condition that appears to take all the control over your body away from you at times, probably seems like a very disheartening thing to experience. However, because I've gone through such experiences I really believe I can get through them if they happen again and so they don't feel so frightening to me. Perhaps this is because I've been lucky that my epilepsy is now well managed that I'm able to see things in this way. However, I still think there are so many things in life that are out of everyone's control and yet people somehow always find ways not just to "get by" but also to thrive! So I'm going to thrive and perhaps where purple more often while thriving! If you'd like to read more about Purple Day click here.

Hooray for Kids' Resilience!

I never really got into March Madness. Don't get me wrong, I like watching basketball and it was always fun to go with my family to see Michigan State basketball games as I grew up not too far away from Michigan State's campus. However, I was proud today to see that one Michigan State player named Adreian Payne  was featured in the Huffington Post because of his friendship with a little girl named Lacey he met who was fighting cancer when the team went to visit kids who were in hospital. I liked the fact that the friendship lasted and that it inspired Adreian and helped him grow. As a result of their friendship Adreian wanted Lacey to be present at his senior night ceremony just to show how much she meant to him. To me this story is a testament to the power of resilience that kids have especially when they face something really difficult like fighting cancer. I think the power of that resilience should never be underestimated as it seems to do so much good not only in helping people like Lacey survive but also in bringing people together. I'm also glad that basketball teams make a point of visiting kids in hospitals, not just because it cheers kids up (which is great) but I figure it gives players something to play for that's bigger than themselves and their team which I think more than anything helps them really be winners. That said, I still root for Michigan State no matter what the outcome is for March Madness. Go Spartans!