Remarkable Celiac Awareness Month
This year, the first day of May begins a month full of celebrations. The end of my freshman year at college. My sister's 17th birthday. The anniversary of my celiac diagnosis. And, starting today, Celiac Awareness Month!
This morning, my Twitter feed sported more tweets than the trees outside my window. Posts about #positiveceliac from Gluten Away. News about an ancient skeleton that shows many of the physical symptoms of celiac disease. More movements to spread knowledge about celiac disease, share gluten free recipes, advance medical research and improve a celiac's quality of life than I can count.
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| Let the celebrations start! |
As I stared at the screen, a single word inflated in my mind: Remarkable. How remarkable is it that the disease that has wriggled into my life - into my very identity - has a whole month dedicated to it? How remarkable is it that I was diagnosed in the same month that my diagnosis is celebrated? And how remarkable is the gluten free community that I've met along the way?
Pretty freakin' remarkable, if the waves ofsupport, love, and acceptance constantly sent my way are any indication. Recently, life has been playing ping pong with my emotions. I'm super excited about the end of my freshman year in college in one moment and crushed about my struggle with self-image from celiac disease in the next.
Logically, I know that I am blessed, even with celiac added to the equation. I have shelter. I have (gluten free) food. I even have a gorgeous California backdrop to stare at when I walk to class. Yet, sometimes I struggle to look past the challenges of living with celiac disease.
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| Being a everlasting Debbie Downer does not quit nicely... |
A few days ago, though, a new mindset infected my brain. It stemmed from a blog post by Hands Free Mama that included John McGregor's quote: "If nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be remarkable?"
And like a virus, that question has spread from my brain to my eyes to my thoughts ever since. Because, I don't have an answer. And I don't care about trying to find one. Instead, I care about the discovery that:
Remarkable is feeling my leg muscles and tendons dance in harmony as I climb up Hendricks Hill.
Remarkable is seeing the sun play peek-a-boo between the leaves of a palm tree.
And remarkable is belonging to a community that joins together during May to celebrate the disease that connects us all.
But even greater splendid than that?
The fact that May is just beginning, and there are so many more remarkable things - about celiac and about life - to be said. And this Celiac Awareness Month, I'm determined to say every single one of them.
What is extraordinary to you these days? What do you watched of Celiac Awareness Month? Comment below!
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