Let Them Say We're Crazy

This week we decided to talk about some quotes that hang on our walls.  We think of these quotes as explanations of our room, and chronic illness in general.  These quotes are the words we see as we leave our room.  (These quotes being products of boredom which in our dorm means art and crafts time) These little words are meant to make us smile, and remember who we are.  We want to be able to show that we aren’t ashamed of who we are.  We know that we are “sick,” and that we are not “normal.”  With these quotes we are able to display who we are.  Hopefully you will also be able to see yourself in some of these words as we did.

“FRIENDSHIP IS BORN AT THAT MOMENT WHEN ONE PERSON SAYS TO ANOTHER: “WHAT! YOU TOO? I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.” -C.S. LEWIS

When we found this quote, we both looked at each other and laughed.  This quote describes the two of us perfectly.  Neither of us remember the moment we found out that we both had medical conditions.  We remember vaguely saying that we had something medically wrong with us, and we both looked at each other in awe. We then started in length discussing our conditions.  I guess you could say that The Medical Dorm was born then.  When someone understands you like this on a deeper level, it is an amazing feeling.  You know you are not the only one, and that someone somewhere is like you.   You may not have the same diagnosis, but you both understand what life is like with a medical condition.  That is something that seems small, but is HUGE.  The two of us have very different conditions, but we find the similarities.  We both spend way too much time at clinics and hospitals.  We both have horrible veins, and understand that blood tests and IVs can take forever to start.  We both have our hospital family, that group of nurses, specialists, and more who are always in your corner.  

“Yes, hello, I’d like a refund on my body.  It’s kinda defective and really expensive.” -anyone with a chronic illness

This quote perfectly describes chronic illness.  We decided to put this on our wall, because we genuinely laughed when we found this.  We were able to pull from past, and recent experiences that perfectly described this quote.  The high medication costs, the feeling that your body is giving up on you.  It is almost like you are falling apart, and cannot pick up the pieces fast enough.  However, being able to laugh about this is key.  I mean, if you aren’t going to laugh, you are going to cry.  Honestly, I would rather spend my days laughing than bawling my eyes out.  

“WHEN I SAID THAT IT COULDN’T GET ANY WORSE, I DIDN’T MEAN IT AS A CHALLENGE!”

This is the final quote found on our door.  This quote came into our dorm at a time when we were about to start screaming this from the rooftops.  We honestly thought that there was no way it could get worse.  Boy, were we wrong.  We thought that we had enough problems already, and that the world would maybe give us a break.  Instead, it took it as a challenge to make everything more difficult.  We did not know, and could not even imagine that Nemo would gain a few new diagnoses.  We did not know that school would have to be put on hold for her.  Life is annoying that way.  Just when we were comfortable in our dorm, life decided to turn everything upside down.  Life thinking that everything was way too easy, and kicking it up a few notches.   

“Let them say we’re crazy”

This was the first quote that made its way into our dorm.  Found at a craft store, we bought the framed quote, laughing the entire time.  It was one of the first things hung up in the room.  With a smile, we would say “bring it on”.  Let those around us think that we are crazy, because we honestly do not care.  We decided that we knew our value better than those around us.  That they could believe and say what they wanted.  We would be perfectly fine being “crazy” in our dorm.  Going around campus, or even on the rare days when we leave campus we are a sight to see.  The two of us climbing into the car with the disabled placard and now a service dog.  Tremors is usually in a beanie, and we both have stopped caring (more or less) what people think of us.  Let them call us crazy.  At this point in our lives, we have more or less accepted who we are, and do not want to hear their judgement.  Yes, we look like a mess sometimes, but so does everybody.  When we are both showing symptoms it’s pretty obvious.  Let them think what they will, because we know our worth.  

These quotes are little reminders to us that we are able to laugh, and smile.  When we are having a bad day we can remember that we have someone in our corner, and that we are not alone.  

WE BELIEVE IN YOU!
-NEMO, TREMORS AND SECRET AGENT PUPPY