This I Believe

So there is this website called thisibelieve.com and I think it is the coolest thing ever. People write "statements" about their personal beliefs and the things that make them their own person and they are really moving and inspirational. So I wrote my own:

I started living my life about three years ago. The first fifteen years of my life, I was living blindly. I took everything for granted and never realized what I actually had.

I remember the day that everything I had taken for granted in life was taken away. In one moment, in one word, my life changed in ways I could never have imagined or even thought possible. The once carefree fifteen-year-old who worried about boys, clothes, electronics, and other worldly thins was thrown head-first into a world with white coats, needles, locked doors and confined rooms, and an intense, on-going battle between life and death.

I remember watching from my hospital window at the people below me after being locked away for about a week, my body aching, my mouth dry and my head void of hair. They were always rushing around with one mind-set of getting everything done by the end of the day. I never once saw someone actually appreciate what the day was offering. During a particularly rainy day, I was sorely tempted to scream out of my window at the people below, to tell them to take their time and enjoy the rain, because one day that simple pleasure might be gone! I would have given anything to be outside in the rain right then. I had never realized how many simple things that life offered, and how many times I had turned my head and failed to notice them.

And so now, two years later and two years in remission, I live my life a little bit differently then the spunk fifteen-year-old once did. I believe in the simplest things that life has to offer and never letting them pass by without enjoying and appreciating them to the fullest. Too many times, people get swept up in the rush of life and let the little things that life has to offer slip by. Life has a tendency to throw curve balls out of nowhere and all of a sudden, everything that could have been appreciated can no longer be enjoyed.

I believe in keeping my eyes open to see and appreciate every little and simple thing that life has to offer, because simplicity is the most spectacular form of beauty. I believe in running in summer  rainstorms and watching thunderstorms roll into the valley. I believe watching the stars come out at night and trying to count them. I believe in long car rides going nowhere in particular with good music and best friends. I believe in cups of hot chocolate and good books on cold snowy evenings. I believe in watching the sun set or walking barefoot along the beach before the break of day. I believe in a child's laugh, in smiles and in bliss. I believe in good conversations, even if the conversation is silence between two people who just understand. I believe in lying in the grass and watching the clouds pass overhead. I believe in moments when you are so perfectly content and happy with the company you are surrounded with that you are overwhelmed to the bursting point with love and affection.

I believe that living for these simple moments is the only way to live life to the fullest.

I believe that no matter what happens, life will always continue to be beautiful.

This...I believe.