For Christmas

So there's this little girl.



Her name is Mikayla Francis.

She was diagnosed with a rare liver cancer back in August. There was a ten centimeter tumor growing on her liver. Treatment started immediately.

Treatment didn't work.

The tumors grew in her lungs as well, despite rigorous chemotherapy and radiation. Mikayla's six. She celebrated both her seventh birthday and Christmas early, two days ago, when doctors advised her parents to move both dates forward.

They don't think she'll be here by Christmas.

Her one fear isn't of dying - her one fear is that people are going to forget her. She begs her parents not to, ask if they'll tell future children about her. She isn't afraid to die, she says, because she reckons "Heaven will be awesome". Her biggest fear is that her friends, family and loved ones will be here on earth.

And she won't.

So to anyone reading this - don't forget Mikayla Francis.

"Life is a journey. Not so much to a destination, but a transformation. You know, looking back, doesn't it sometimes feel like our richest times come right in the midst of our hardest? God made us to live in community, to laugh and cry, to hurt and celebrate with each other no matter what we're going through, and transformation is tough, and we don't always end up where we think we will - but we have to remember, that even when we struggle to believe in Him, He always believes in us. He fills our life with passion and purpose if we just let Him. And you know the best part of the journey is that sometimes the God of the universe sometimes allows us to play a part in changing the world. Isn't that a trip?"

-Chris, "To Save A Life"

So instead of wallowing in my own misery, I'm going to celebrate Mikayla's birthday. I'm going to put her in my little book of inspiration. And I won't forget her. I won't ignore the pain. Instead, I'll pray that God will welcome her with open arms into Heaven and she will be loved.

-a solitary blue.

SUMMER :D

So it's finally summer here. It's got to about 40 degrees Celsius and the pool is AH-MAZE-ING. I've put all my winter clothes away and I've started attempting to squeeze my summer clothes into my teeny weeny cupboard. Needless to say it's slow going!

I also had exams last week. First exam was English. Three hours. Three one-thousand-word essays. It was good, I finished half an hour and then sat there seeing how many times I could go through "ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall" in my head. I lost track when the kid next to me farted and I nearly died.

The next was maths. Finished an hour early because I couldn't do any of it. Got twenty percent. Not too concerned - saw that one coming.

Next was Media - two essays in an hour and a half. I got ninety five percent on that! HELLS YEAH. We had to study the movie Birdy, directed by Alan Parker and starring Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modeine. I'm a huge Cage fan. :D

After that was Literature. We had to write an essay on the themes presented in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. I wrote six pages in one hour. I was proud.

And then HD. HD was just HD. A lot of boring irrelevant questions. I think one was "why is smoking bad for you?" and I had a bit of a ":D LOL! Oh, that's a serious question..." reaction.

So I have work later on today and then tomorrow morning as well. I'm thinking about quitting before year twelve because otherwise it's gonna be way too stressful to keep up ten hours a week at work and do all the coursework and apply for universities and focus on my driver's license!

-a solitary blue.

Tagged!

I got a tag! :D I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do both sets of 8 questions on the same tag or just one, but I only have time for one and the next eight, so I picked the most interesting ones!

1. If you could meet anyone currently living, who would you pick? Why?

I would pick the girls in Superchick, because their lyrics are AMAZING.

2. What is your favorite band? Why?

My favourite band right now is Big Time Rush. I'm obsessed with their show because they're four hot guys! Also, their music is so happy and upbeat and I just love being happy and upbeat. It matches summer!

3. What is your least favorite book? Why?

Never had a question like this before! I would have to say Twilight. Sorry to all the people who love twilight, but the characters are bland and lifeless.

4. If you saw someone who was being rude and ugly and hateful, then they dropped their wallet as they walked off, what would you do?

I would give it back to them. Two wrongs don't make a right, and not giving it back would be sinking to their level.

5. What do you get in trouble for most?

I don't really get in trouble, but if it was for anything it would be speaking my mind. I really edit myself here on blogger because I know a lot of nasty words.

6. Pets, what kind(s) if any, name(s), age(s), the whole deal:

Naiyook is my Alaskan Malamute dog, and she's a year old :) she's a precious child! I have two cats, Amy and Squidge. Amy is six and she's a tabby and Squidge is four and he's a ranga. Or ginger. Haha.

7. If, in the future, you were happily married and had a son and daughter, what would their names be? Any particular reason?

Zackary and Paige. I just loooove how traditional Zackary is, and Paige just sounds nice! Also, you can't really make any nasty nicknames from either.

8. If there was one question you'd love to be asked, ask yourself it here, then answer it:

What makes a person good? What makes a person good is when they'll stop to help even the meanest old lady, when they'll babysit when they don't want to, when they'll volunteer, when they'll help a friend on an assignment or lend people money knowing they won't get it back, because to me that shows that they know there are bigger things in life to worry about.

I had fun doing this but I have to go to work and don't have time to write a list myself! I'll post it in my next blog!

-a solitary blue

As it is :)

So life is really good at the moment! I'm feeling really upbeat at the moment, and I finally have some deb pictures to post! Reminder - a deb is like a prom but much more formal and a much bigger deal out here than anything. We spend literally months preparing for this, and only twelve girls per year get to do the deb. It's seen as the night where a girl makes the transition from teenager to woman.

I only have 2 weeks of school left and then 3 months of holidays! WOOT WOOT!

Summer is here! Reorganising the wardrobe! Goodbye winter coat, hello sweet summer dress!

[We're halfway there, we're looking good now
And nothing's gonna get in the way
We're halfway there
And looking back now I never thought that I'd ever say
We're halfway there!]

Summer always cheers me up. It's literally a breath of fresh air. I don't think anybody understands how truly happy it makes me to be able to shoot people with a water pistol and swing off the metal railing of our bungalow and into the pool and send water everywhere. I think they underestimate how healing it is.

Autumn is for shedding old skins. Winter is for rest. Spring is for growth. Summer is for renewal. Summer for me has always been the best time of the year, because while I appreciate being able to curl up under a million blankets with hot chocolate and read I LOVE the sun and I love the wind and I love how it feels like everything is so alive!

Sixteen to seventeen has been the best year of my life so far. I feel like somewhere along the way I stopped being a girl and started being a woman and I like the change. Maybe that change came when Brendan spun me in circles in my white dress all over a dance floor in front of hundreds of people.

[Wait a minute, before you tell me anything
How was your day?
Cause I've been missing you by my side
Did I awake you out of your dream?
I'm sorry but I couldn't sleep
Coming down there's something about the sound of your voice]

I thought that to be happy I didn't need a man to save me, and I don't think I need a man to save me now. But I would like one. I really would. And I think when I did my deb this year, he was the one there when I became that woman.





I felt like the most beautiful girl alive the night of my deb even though the other girls were just as pretty or prettier. I was impervious to all the whispers and I didn't care that everyone was watching - I wanted them to watch. I wanted them to see what I could do. That I'd learned to dance with someone just as hopeless as me.

This, undoubtedly, was the most beautiful night of my life, and the night that I changed completely. I grew and realised that inside and out I was a good, beautiful person, that I didn't have to worry about what other people thought.

Bleah Briann's right - there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a princess.

-a solitary blue

Life

So I can't wait to get out of this town. Everyone here just frustrates me. If they don't know something they make up vindictive, malicious lies about the person who refuses to tell them. Someone started a rumor that my friend is pregnant (which she's not, as she's a virgin) and I'm so sick of looking at people and having them judge every inch of you.

It's ironic to me that people of small-towns try to live up to the supposed reality of city people. The reality is that city people couldn't care less about anyone because they're so busy with their own lives! They don't spend their time hanging around a mall to steal something they don't even want. People do that here because they're bored.

On the other hand, my exams have started and I think most of my friends are ready to self-destruct with the pressure. I work well under pressure. I had my year 12 psych today which counts towards uni, so that's alright, worst is over. Buuuut I still have to my media, human development, maths, english and literature in a week's time. Which annoys me.

And I don't even have time to post anything else because I have to go to work again!

-a solitary blue