March 13, 1999

Happy anniversary to me!
Happy anniversary to me!
Happy anniversary to me!
Happy anniversary to me!

Yes, it is my 2 year anniversary, a date I hoped I was not having delusions of grandeur about. I am still here, I am as healthy as a Blort flying on spinach leaves, I am strong and I can imagine that the world is in my hands. I no longer feel like a tiny spec that can be crushed or blown away by a gust of wind.

So what have I done to celebrate. This morning I woke up and breathed a huge sigh of relief! P-h-e-w! I did it! Celebration over! Not really, I reminded myself again and again that I survived that important 2 year span that means I will likely go on to live what could be a long life. I reflected on how I have rewired my cells with positive messages of survival, how I have tricked my brain into relaying information to my body that I have returned to the healthy person I was pre-HD. I thought about how I have been working out, using all my bodybuilding skills, and how the phenomenon of muscle memory has given me an upper edge. I sifted through images of my bodybuilding years, and realized that the bodybuilding mentality of, "If it does not kill you, it will make you stronger," is not devoid of truth.

I have celebrated inside and out! Once again, I see food as rebuilding materials and that I am made out of whatever I eat. When I eat salad, I am made out of salad! I am Salad Girl! See the energy flow out of my leafy limbs! As my body soaks up the greenery, my muscle cells send nutritional messages to my brain. The brain and body are one contiguous system, they work together and feed off each other. My muscle cells tell my brain that they are in high energy mode, and my brain confirms this by telling all the other cells in my body that they must follow suit. At the same time I visualize myself in the kind of shape I wish to be in, and my brain sends a visual picture to every cell in my body. Poof! My body and brain are transformed into a biological high-tech health machine. And to think we each get a free brain on our very first birthday!

So what else marked this day for me? Oh, that is right, I switched Beetle's, changed colors, from white to green, her name is "Clover." It is a long story, but let's just say it marks another new beginning. I once again visualized what I wanted, and it became true. Clover allows me to imagine myself in the future, she lets me leap forward into the year 2000. I shall be a part of the new millennium, green and fresh and cutting edge! Kind of like a Blort flying on spinach leaves.

In a nutshell, I am now officially a 2 year survivor of HD! Can you say that?