January is a peculiar month for me. It is the month after Christmas. The month after all the stress in school ends. It means a new year and new beginnings. The days finally get longer again which means that there might be spring not to long away. If I had to match one word to this month it would be hope. This is not only because of the things above, but due to two more stories you might already know, but might not be aware of how they are linked.
January 30 2002. I walked my thirteen year old self into my pediatrician's office. It was close to closing time, because I was embarassed to be going to a pediatrician. I was almost an adult after all. So my mom got me a late appointment. The rest is history. The doctor told me I had leukemia and the longest and hardest months of my life began. Nothing ever was as it had been before. I fought for my life and still do to this day. 13 years later (I doubled my age. Yeah!) people still look at me like I might drop dead this very second when I tell them about my disease. On January 30 2002 I thought I might never be happy again or live at all. I was at my lowest point in life.
Luckily, my cancer had been caught early so I had a good chance to survive and I was declared cancer free. But you are not considered to be cured until the fifth anniversary of your diagnosis. So January 30th 2007 became my goal.
January 30th 2007 I was 18, in 12th grade and a very good student. I swam almost every day and had lots of friends. I had so much to be thankful for. And I was. And everybody around me. But this day was about to become more magical. Since a few days I was holding my phone very close to me because I was non stop texting with boy. A few weeks before I had come back to Germany after my 6 week stay in South Africa. On New Years eve, while sitting on a hay ball at a South African pig farm, I had decided that I finally needed a boyfriend. That it was time to really start living. The said boy later picked me up for our first official date. Before that we had just hung out with our friends. So we had pizza, then drove around while he told me every bit of history to the area we live in. Then we went to the parling lot in front of the swimming pool and after a long conversation he kissed me (best kiss ever!!!). In a few days we will do exactly the same for our 8 year anniversary. Same procedure as every year.
Do you think that was coincidence?
A few days ago we were lying in bed talking about the big stuff. Like buying houses and cars and questioning how we would ever be able to afford this. We were not exactly complaining, because we know we are blessed with everything we have and somehow we believe everything will work out. But we were kind of questioning how.
Then I got home on Friday. Tired after my first week back at school. The door bell rings. It was the mailman. As he walked up the stairs I saw a big box. He was breathing hard because we live on the third floor. I got confused as I had not ordered anything. I thought it must be Hendrik's. And in the same moment I got almost a bit angry because I thought he was wasting money. (Sorry!) To confuse me even more the mailman asked me to come down to his car because he had two more of these boxes. What???? So I went down and carried a box upstairs. It was not light, but not heavy either. They were for Hendrik so I waited for him to come home to open them. Meanwhile I almost could not reach the bathroom because they were blocking the hallway.
When we opened them they were FULL of TOILET PAPER!!!
Hendrik, like he sometimes does, had entered a competition at a store and, of course had not won the first prize, but the 10th which was a years supply of toilet paper.... In my mind God was laughing hysterically at this moment. Thanks God, now we have enough! At least toilet paper.
Coincidence?
