When I was at college at NECC I loved going to class. I loved going because the whole year previously I had done college online. You don't know how great it is to listen to a teacher and be around other students until you have taken online classes. One day about halfway through the semester I was in my business management class. It was one of my biggest classes with about 30 students. That day we were learning about diversity. My teacher did a little activity where she read something off and if it pertained to you, you stood up to show there was diversity everywhere. She started off by naming an eye color, then religion, and race, she went on and on and then she got to...children. I took a deep breath and stood up. All eyes were on me because I was the only one standing. There were literally gasps in the classroom (I am not even kidding). I am sure that my classmates thought that they knew me but they had just found out that they really didn't. My teacher knew from the beginning of the year that I had a son. She just gave me a smile and once I sat down she commended me and told the class how hard it is to go to school with a child. At that point I was almost in tears. I didn't care that everyone knew I had a child it was that she was pointing out that it was more of a struggle for me to get to class everyday and to get my homework done. I didn't want to be seen or treated any differently. To me I was just like all of the other students going to class. There were so many emotions going through me but once I sat down I had to face my friends in the class. They started whispering to me that they had no idea and that they never would have guessed. Then the questions started coming, are you engaged or married? Where is the dad? Most of my classes knew I had a kid but in this one it had just never came up. I didn't hang out with any of them outside of the class, so it was a bit of a surprise. I went to class to learn and get a degree not really to socialize and tell my life story. That day it was pointed out to everyone that I was different from all of them.
Today is February 4th, which also happens to be World Cancer Day. In honor of World Cancer Day, the radio station I listen to everyday at work had many cancer survivors, and parents of cancer patients tell their stories. Every time a parent or a child told their story, I was almost in tears. In every story they all said "I never thought it would happen to me." It is so true, no one ever thinks it is going to happen to them. I couldn't even begin to imagine if I was told that my son has cancer. I don't want to even think about it. After hearing all of these stories I decided I wanted to do something to help. So I went on to stjude.org and became a partner in hope. I signed up to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital monthly. It comes straight out of your credit card or bank account. You can choose the dollar amount to donate per month. Any amount helps so much. It is so easy to do and I hope others wi...
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